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| Zack Graber |
There are
similarities from the last time UALR swept Western Kentucky in the regular
season and this year’s team.
The
2004-2005 UALR Trojans ended up finishing 18-10. But on the way, they lost by
more than 30 points at Middle Tennessee, swept Western Kentucky in the regular
season and lost only one game at home all season.
We don’t
know how this season’s Trojans will finish. UALR is now 12-9 after Saturday’s
59-54 victory over the Hilltoppers. It came right after UALR’s 32-point loss at
Middle Tennessee. And this UALR team has lost just once at home this season.
Neither team was a good rebounding team with both getting outrebounded for the season.
But there
was one major difference between the 2005 team and this year’s team. The 2005
Trojans featured seven seniors (Columbus Willis, Zack Graber, Josh Jacobs,
Brandon Freeman, Michael Pridgeon, Richard Hardman and Darius Eason). They also
had a prominent junior in Elijah Muldrow and a solod sophomore in Zack Wright.
The 2013
Trojans have only one senior in walk-on Ted Crass. Other than juniors Will
Neighbour and Leroy Isler, the rest of the minutes are played by sophomores and
freshman.
That
2004-2005 season was an interesting one to cover. It started with lopsided
losses to Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech (the OSU game was a lot closer than
the final margin). After a 35-point thrashing at Middle Tennessee on a Monday
night, UALR returned home to face Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee on a
Thursday-Saturday. UALR beat WKU 69-66 and Middle 69-62.
This was
also the season that saw the five overtime game in Miami against Florida
International. I can still see Ivan Almante’s falling out of bounds bank shot
three-pointer to tie the game at the end of regulation. UALR eventually lost
118-114. Graber earned a little national acclaim that day by playing in all 65
minutes.
But the
Trojans responded by winning the next four games, including 55-53 at Western
Kentucky and then heralded freshman Courtney Lee. In a tie game, UALR ran clock
before Wright slipped a pass to Eason on the baseline. Eason’s dunk quieted the
crowd as UALR took the lead. Western had a heave at the buzzer but it was no
good and UALR seized control of the East Division.
The unique
thing about that trip was that UALR was playing in a Bracket Busters game at
Bowling Green two days later. So we made the trip from Bowling Green, Ky., to
Bowling Green, Ohio.
UALR lost
74-66 at Bowling Green but returned home to beat New Mexico State and
Louisiana-Lafayette in the final games at then Alltel Arena. The ULL game ended
on a similar play to the WKU game. Down one point, Wright got trapped driving to
the basket. At the last second, something caught his eye. It was the shoes of
Eason, who for some reason wore black high tops that game. Wright slipped him a
pass and Eason’s bank shot beat the buzzer for the UALR victory.
That season
ended a week later in Denton, Texas, when the Trojans were upset in the first
round of the Sun Belt Tournament by Florida International. And despite a really
good RPI, the NIT chose not to invite the Trojans to postseason.
