BURN THE HORSE
Playing at No. 11 Cincinnati was going to be difficult
anyway. Take away one of UALR’s two point guards and it was going to be near
impossible.
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53 87 |
Knowing that freshman point guard Josh Hagins was not on the
trip, it’s not surprising that UALR was blown out 87-53 on Thursday.
How much could Hagins have helped? He couldn’t have been
much worse. UALR had 32 turnovers, 8 by freshman point guard John Gillon, 7 by
junior guard Leroy Isler, who served as the backup point guard and 6 by
freshman James White.
Cincinnati had 23 steals and turned that into a 31-8
advantage in points off turnovers.
UALR released a statement prior to tipoff that read: “Freshman
Josh Hagins did not make the trip and will not play in UALR’s game vs.
Cincinnati tonight. Hagins stayed in Little Rock to take care of work for
school.” UALR students wrap up classes for the fall semester on Friday.
UALR’s defense was sound early, but turnover after turnover
prevented the Trojans from even getting shots. Eventually, Cincinnati poured it
on. A 12-0 run pushed the lead to 25-8 as the Bearcats rolled to a 44-17
halftime lead. Cincinnati had a 14-0 points off turnovers and 15-0 fast break
points advantage at intermission.
UALR was better for stretches of the second half, but spurts
of turnovers never allowed them to make a serious run.
When UALR didn’t turn the ball over the Trojans weren’t bad.
They made 20 of 50 field-goals for 40 percent. Junior forward Will Neighbour,
sophomore guard Ben Dillard and freshman forward James White each had 10 points
to lead UALR. Neighbour also added 10 rebounds to give him a double-double.
