Nice to meet you: UALR starting season over with trip to North Texas

BURN THE HORSE

No idea if UALR Coach Steve Shields walked into the locker room last night and had his players introduce themselves to each other. But he could have. As far as they’re concerned, the season started at that moment.

Obviously you can’t just wipe away everything. UALR is 3-10 on the season. But the Trojans are approaching the start of Sun Belt Conference play the only way you can: New season starts today. That means symbolically wiping the 3-10 off the books and starting at 0-0 as the Trojans play Thursday at North Texas.

“They’ve shown a lot of grit and toughness and I really believe it will pay off in time. I think our guys have gotten better even though our record may now show it at this point,” Shields said.

There’s a lot that can be debated about the 3-10 start to the season. But one thing that’s a fact is the level of competition. There was one non-Division I opponent, but there were no SWAC, no teams struggling to get a victory. And nearly every other opponent was an average, or in many cases, above average Sun Belt-type team.

UALR was in nearly all of them. That includes doing everything but beating Oral Roberts, which since that game has had a close lost to Gonzaga, a victory over Xavier and a victory over Texas Tech.

“I said this numerous times last year and we were fortunate to finish if off well in the conference tournament. We don’t know what the future holds, but you’ve got to stay together and you’ve got to continue to believe in one another,” Shields said.

They’re doing it playing three freshmen (Taggart Lockhart, Ben Dillard and Michael Javes) and two promising sophomores (Will Neighbour and Chuck Guy). UALR has been close so far. Taking the next step will tell whether or not these Trojans can compete in the Sun Belt.