Frankly, the future looked a bit murky with those two gone. However, those expected to return next year stepped up and showed they can more than compete in the Sun Belt Conference.
Playing on the road against a loaded team -- ULL has two potential first team all-Sun Belt players -- the UALR youth held it together. Heck, they almost pulled it out before losing 93-87 in double overtime.
One issue figured to be scoring. Isler and Neighbour are among the tops on the roster in team points scored while on the court. But others stepped up.
Stetson Billings got to a team best +7. And Maurius Hill (even), Ben Dillard (-1) and Gus Leeper (even) had valiant efforts. Josh Hagins was on the court for all but four UALR points that were scored.
I was contemplating just how I was going to justify the plus/minus ledger when UALR was playing with just four players last night. But neither team scored during those 10 seconds, so it ultimately didn't matter.
Louisiana-Lafayette won two of the four factors, taking free throw rate and effective field goal percentage. UALR dominated rebounding and both teams turned the ball over on 18 percent of their possessions.
