UALR’s first-round opponent in the Sun Belt Tournament will be either
Florida International, Western Kentucky or Louisiana-Monroe. But the date of that game remains to
be decided.
With one game remaining in the regular season, UALR will either be the
No. 4, 5 or 6 seed in the tournament. If UALR wins on Saturday vs. Arkansas
State, it will get a bye. The opponent will be FIU unless FIU loses to FAU on Saturday and WKU beats Middle on Saturday.
If that happens there would be a three-way tie. UALR would get the 4, WKU the 5 and FIU the 6.
UALR gets the 5 seed if FIU beats Florida Atlantic on Saturday and either UALR beats Arkansas State or WKU loses to Middle Tennessee.
But if UALR loses and Western Kentucky wins, UALR will slip to the 6 seed and will play Louisiana-Monroe in the first round.
If that happens there would be a three-way tie. UALR would get the 4, WKU the 5 and FIU the 6.
UALR gets the 5 seed if FIU beats Florida Atlantic on Saturday and either UALR beats Arkansas State or WKU loses to Middle Tennessee.
But if UALR loses and Western Kentucky wins, UALR will slip to the 6 seed and will play Louisiana-Monroe in the first round.
INJURY REPORT
UALR was once again without sophomore guard Taggart Lockhart who has
concussion symptoms.
BURN UNIT
You might not have recognized one of Thursday’s officials without his mask.
Bruce Benedict, who was a catcher for the Atlanta Braves from 1978 to 1989, was
one of the three officials. He called the questionable technical foul on UALR’s
Ben Dillard late in the game.
STAT OF THE GAME
UALR outscored Louisiana-Lafayette 27-1 in bench points. That was key
as players like Ben Dillard and John Gillon entered the game and kept the
offense going.
BTH KEYS
Guard guards: Louisiana-Lafayette’s Elfrid Payton had 17 points and
Bryant Mbamalu had 13. While those are pretty solid numbers, UALR made them work
for it. It could have been worse. Grade:C+-.
Clear glass: UALR outrebounded Louisiana-Lafayette 42-29, a massive
advantage for a rebounding-challenged team like UALR. Grade: A.
Set the alarm: UALR got off to a good start and led 36-26 at halftime.
Grade: A.
THE GOOD
UALR held Louisiana-Lafayette to 4 of 20 three-point shooting.
THE BAD
UALR had its 16-point lead cut to 4 points in the second half.
THE UGLY
UALR had 18 turnovers to Louisiana-Lafayette’s 8.
VEGAS, BABY
UALR was favored by six points making UALR bettors winners.
PREDICTIONS
Everyone took UALR. Everyone’s a winner.
UP NEXT
UALR hosts Arkansas State on Saturday in the regular season finale.
