Perhaps UALR found something on the short trip from Murfreesboro,
Tenn., to Bowling Green, Ky., on Friday morning. What the Trojans appear to
have found is how to win ugly on the road.
Frankly, it was a Steve Shields special.
Less than 48 hours after getting blown away at Middle Tennesee, UALR
responded with a 59-54 victory over Western Kentucky before the largest crowd
to visit E.A. Diddle Arena this season.
How’d they do it?
They took a page out of the book from some of Shields’ best teams. They
locked it up defensively and did enough on the offensive end to pull out the
victory.
Western Kentucky shot just 32.7 percent from the field and had 18
turnovers. That allowed UALR to hang in there. And with the game on the line,
freshman point guard Josh Hagins delivered the dagger – twice. First, he buried
a three-pointer. Then he found Leroy Isler for a highlight reel layup to put
the game out of reach.
It wasn’t pretty. Just effective.
That’s how you win on the road.
BURN BABY BURN
Western Kentucky went with the throwback uniforms again on Saturday
against UALR. WKU had worn the uniforms with great success in beating
Louisiana-Lafayette on Thursday. But the magic appeared to have run out on
Saturday.
STAT OF THE GAME
28.6 percent. Western Kentucky’s shooting percentage in the second half
on Saturday.
BTH KEYS TO VICTORY
Forty: That was today’s magic number. UALR shot 46.2 percent from the
field while holding Western Kentucky to 32.7 percent. UALR is now 11-4 when it
shoots at least 40 percent and 7-2 when opponents shoot less than 40 percent.
WKU is winless when it doesn’t reach 40 percent. Grade: A+.
Board beatdown: UALR was on the way to a board beatdown at halftime,
getting outrebounded by 11. But UALR outrebounded WKU by five in the second
half. The final total shows WKU outrebounded UALR 37-31. But the second half
put UALR over the top. Grade: B.
Paging Mr. White: James White still really didn’t get going. He had
four turnovers in eight minutes. And that’s not going to get him a lot more
minutes if he can’t clean that up. However, he hit back to back shots at a key
point in the second half. Grade: C.
THE GOOD
UALR sophomore Michael Javes finished with 8 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist
and 2 blocked shots.
THE BAD
Western Kentucky made more free throws (15) than UALR attempted (12).
THE UGLY
Are you kidding? There’s nothing ugly about winning at E.A. Diddle
Arena.
VEGAS, BABY
Western Kentucky went in as a seven-point favorite. That makes UALR an
easy ATS winner on Saturday.
PREDICTIONS
Everyone was a loser on Saturday. CBS Sportsline actually came the
closest, predicting a four-point WKU victory.
UP NEXT
UALR hosts Florida Atlantic on Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center.
Last week Florida Atlantic won at Diddle Arena. This week, FAU lost at home to
North Texas.
