Playing without Leroy Isler and James White presented some problems UALR had to overcome on Thursday, especially on the offensive end of the court.
Isler ranks fourth in team offensive points scored per minute while White ranks sixth. They were replaced in the lineup by Josh Hagins and Stetson Billings. Hagins ranks third in team offensive points scored per minute while Billings is way down at ninth.
It seemingly should have been a better defensive showing with that lineup in play. Still it was kind of a back and forth offensive shootout for much of the night with UALR coming out on top 69-64.
There were some interesting plus/minus occurrences. Mareik Isom posted a +11 with UALR outscoring Texas State 24-13. UALR beat Texas State in each of the three segments Isom played. That included entering with UALR trailing 17-14 in the first half and exiting with UALR leading 22-19. UALR's 24 points in Isom's 15 minutes translates to 1.6 points per minute, just about at Isom's average. But the 13 points allowed works out to 0.87. That is much better than Isom's1.77 season average.
Will Neighbour's +9 and Kemy Osse's +8 were next best.
UALR also won three of the Four Factors to Winning. The Trojans were better in effective field-goal percentage, turnover percentage and free throw rate. Texas State was better in offensive rebound percentage.