BURN THE HORSE
First, a couple of notes.
- The last time UALR went 5-0 in road games vs. West Division opponents the Trojans claimed the West Division championship. That Trojan team went 8-1 on the road.
- UALR Coach Steve Shields is now 10-1 in his career when getting a rematch against a team that beat his team by 10 or more points in the first meeting of the season. UALR lost by 19 in the first game against Louisiana-Lafayette.
- UALR is now two games up in the loss column on North Texas and Louisiana-Lafayette. Denver is now three games back in the loss column.
MAKE EM PAY UALR turned 17 Louisiana-Lafayette turnovers into 19 points. Point No. 19 came after Chuck Guy's steal in the final seconds. Grade: A
DEFEND INSIDE OUT: UALR really didn’t force Louisiana-Lafayette into nearly enough three-pointers. But they did defend when the Cajuns shot them. ULL was just 3 of 13 from three-point range. Grade: B-
STALEMATE: UALR didn’t get its stalemate, getting outrebounded 43-37. But it could have been much worse and the Trojans hung in there against a very good rebounding opponent. Grade: B-.
DON’T SETTLE: UALR settled for far too many three-pointers in the first meeting against ULL. This time UALR attempted only 10 in 45 minutes. And the Trojans went 2 for 2 from three-point range in the final 10 seconds of regulation. Grade: A+
Vegas, baby
UALR was a seven-point underdog making them a Vegas winner again.
Predictions
Everyone’s a loser. OmniRankings still with a slight lead on Jeff Sagarin and CBS Sportsline.
Stat of the game
8: Turnovers for UALR in 45 minutes. Incredible.
Always negative
43-37: UALR got outrebounded by that margin
Keep it positive
10: UALR had 10 steals in forcing 17 Louisiana-Lafayette turnovers.
Player of the game
There are several amazing candidates. But Chuck Guy made a late three-pointer to tie it and had a crucial steal late in overtime. He also secure the rebound on the final play of the game. He finished with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Up next
UALR gets Middle Tennessee at noon on Saturday on ESPN2. The winner has the inside track for the Sun Belt’s No. 1 seed and a guaranteed berth in the NIT.
