When UALR Coach Steve Shields made the commitment to focus more recruiting
on high school players two years ago he knew there would be some growing pains.
There’s no doubt he could have had more immediate success by restocking
the roster with junior college players. But the problem with those players is
that once they begin to flourish, they graduate and you never really get the
opportunity to use their full potential.
And this year those growing pains have been evident. Nine of the 11
players in the rotation are either sophomores or freshmen. And UALR is 10-1 at home, 1-1 in neutral site
games and 0-8 on the road.
Last night’s 82-50 loss at Middle Tennessee shouldn’t have been
unexpected by anyone. Look at Middle Tennessee's roster. It's stocked with a heavy mix of junior college and Division I transfers. The fact that UALR is even contending for a Sun Belt West
Division championship is remarkable. Yet, UALR remains at the top as we near
the halfway point of the conference schedule.
You see, the one thing freshman players lack is consistency – night in
and night out. Freshman players don’t know how to get a situation turned when
it starts to go bad. They don’t know how to handle adversity. Why? Because it’s
a learned behavior and they’ve never had to do it.
But this group has potential. Think about what they might look like
next year. Potentially, every player on next year’s roster will go through
spring and summer conditioning with Coach John Barron. That’s never happened at
UALR.
At some point this team will have to win on the road if it is to remain
on top. They’ll have to bow up and decide they aren’t going to take it anymore.
They’ll have to decide they’re tired of seeing 82-50 in the box scores.
It will happen at some point. But until then, we’ll have to settle for
potential.
BURN UNIT
Believe it or not, last night’s 82-50 loss at Middle Tennessee wasn’t
UALR’s worst loss at the Murphy Center. UALR lost 85-50 in the 2004-2005
season. UALR went on to finish ahead of Middle Tennessee in the East Division
standings that year, claiming their second division championship under Coach
Steve Shields.
STAT OF THE GAME
19 turnovers by UALR. It’s a lot of turnovers and even more considering
Middle Tennessee wasn’t pressing.
BTH KEYS
Avoid the runs: Middle Tennessee used a pair of 9-0 runs in the first
half to blow the game open. These runs have become typical for UALR in road
games this season. Grade: F.
Let it fly: The team with the higher field goal percentage was going to
win. Middle Tennessee shot 56 percent to UALR’s 35.3 percent. Grade: F.
Rebound: Middle Tennessee outrebounded UALR 37-25 for the game. Grade: D.
THE GOOD
Josh Hagins went 5 of 9 from the field to finish with a team high 14
points. He also had 3 assists and 2 steals. The only negative was five
turnovers.
THE BAD
Just two points and seven rebounds combined for Leroy Isler (0, 3),
Taggart Lockhart (0, 1) and James White (2, 3).
THE UGLY
UALR had four assists in 40 minutes of basketball. That’s not sharing
of the basketball and isn’t a recipe for winning.
VEGAS, BABY
UALR was a 15-point underdog and easily lost.
PREDICTIONS
All predictors took Middle Tennessee. The closest prediction was
OmniRankings’ 75-55 selection.
UP NEXT
UALR remains in search of its first Sun Belt Conference road victory
when it travels to Western Kentucky at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
