UALR baited North Texas’ Tony Mitchell into his fifth foul on Saturday
night.
Mitchell was playing with four fouls and UALR had the ball leading
56-48 with 1:27 left. Knowing North Texas was switching ball screens, UALR had
James White, who was guarded by Mitchell, set a screen for John Gillon. North
Texas switched it, leaving the 6-8 Mitchell guarding Gillon, a 6-0 point guard.
“John Gillon came off the ball screen and Tony switched. We went flat
there,” UALR Coach Steve Shields said.
When he says they went flat, he means they spread out across the high post,
clearing the lane. Gillon then drove the ball on Mitchell, drawing his fifth
foul and sending him to the bench for the rest of the night.
“John did a really good job not settling for a jump shot. That was big,”
Shields said.
Mitchell finished with 13 points and six rebounds. Once again, he was
no better head-to-head than UALR’s Will Neighbour, who had 11 points and 6
rebounds. More importantly, Neighbour is 3-1 in head to head games vs.
Mitchell, who is expected to enter the NBA next season.
BURN BABY BURN
Unless they play a nonconference game in the future, this was UALR’s
last visit to The Super Pit for a while. That’s too bad because UALR Coach
Steve Shields is 4-3 inside that building. The three previous victories inside
The Super Pit came in seasons when UALR won a division championship. The
fourth? We’ll have to wait to find out.
BURN UNIT
UALR sophomore Michael Javes’ stats aren’t all that impressive. But
Javes did a pretty good job matching up against North Texas’ Tony Mitchell.
“I thought he did a very good job defending him. Tony Mitchell is an
outstanding player. He’s hard to guard. You have to use multiple guys on him.
You’re guards have to dig down on him. Our team did a good job with that,” UALR
Coach Steve Shields said.
STAT OF THE GAME
47.6 percent. UALR didn’t match its above 50 percent second half
shooting percentage from the past two games, but the Trojans did shoot 47.6
percent after halftime. This included 10 of 21 from the field.
BTH KEYS REVISITED
Guard attack: The way the game was officiated, no one was really in
foul trouble most of the way. But UALR’s guards did attack throughout. Grade:
B.
70th heaven: UALR definitely kept the score down, holding
North Texas to 57 points. Solid effort on the road. Grade: A.
Block party: UALR got outrebounded by six, but North Texas got several
at the very end. For the most part, UALR hung in there in rebounding. Grade: B.
THE GOOD
UALR shot 62.5 percent from three-point range in the first half.
THE BAD
North Texas went to the free throw line 24 times in the second half.
Fortunately, the Mean Green only made 16.
THE UGLY
Only four North Texas players scored. Jordan Williams had 22, Roger
Franklin 20, Tony Mitchell 13 and Niko Stojiljkovic 2. That was it.
VEGAS, BABY
UALR was a three-point underdog on Saturday. Those betting UALR were
winners.
PREDICTIONS
Only CBS Sportsline went with UALR in the predictions. Therefore, they
were the only winners on Saturday.
UP NEXT
UALR gets a week off before hosting South Alabama next Saturday night. South Alabama plays twice before then. The Jaguars host Florida International on Sunday and travel to Arkansas State on Thursday.
