UALR (3-5), which was a
10-point Las Vegas underdog going in, now must either win at Memphis or sweep
the British Virgin Islands trip in order to finish above .500 in nonconference
play.
On Tuesday, it was about
not putting the hammer down when the Trojans had a chance. UALR held a 19-11
advantage but couldn’t extend the lead. Tulsa rallied and UALR led just 28-26
at halftime. Again, it could have been much more. UALR had only 2 made field
goals in the final 11 minutes.
Tulsa opened up an
eight-point lead early in the second half and UALR looked to be on the ropes.
But a solid 8-0 run by UALR that finished on a reverse layup by Leroy Isler
tied the game at 41-41. Then UALR fell off the earth. Tulsa scored the next 16
points and rolled to an easy victory.
"We have to continue to get better at handling adverse situations. That's the No. 1 thing," said UALR Coach Steve Shields, who received a second-half technical foul during Tulsa's run. "We got beat to 50/50 plays in the second half where we were winning those in the first half."
Will Neighbour led UALR
with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Isler had 14 points and DeVonte Smith added
8. But the Trojans’ combination of 2 guards were nearly no-shows. Josh Hagins
finished with 9 points but went 2 of 11 from the field. Kemy Osse had just 3
points and Ben Dillard didn’t score.
It was a large part of
why the Trojans shot just 20 of 55 from the field (36 percent) and made just 4
of 16 three-pointers. UALR actually outrebounded Tulsa 38-37 but committed 17
turnovers to nullify that advantage.
Tulsa shot 43 percent
from the field and made 26 of 40 free throws.
"We had good ball movement in the first half, we didn't have that in the second half," Shields said.
"We had good ball movement in the first half, we didn't have that in the second half," Shields said.
