The UALR men’s basketball team entered the season with a new coach, seven new players and was picked in the middle of the Sun Belt Conference.
Now the Trojans can be mentioned among some of Division I’s highest-ranked teams.
Marcus Johnson Jr. scored 18 points and Josh Hagins added 15 to help UALR to a 72-49 victory over Troy in front of a crowd of 3,385 Thursday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. The victory is the school’s 20th this year, the first time since 2009 it has reached that mark.
UALR (20-2, 10-1) joins three other teams who have reached 20 victories: No. 4 Maryland, No. 6 Xavier and Tennessee-Chattanooga.
The accomplishment wasn’t lost on Coach Chris Beard, who has turned UALR into the Sun Belt front-runner 10 months after being hired.
“Just to be in the same conversations with teams like Maryland — it’s where we want to get our program,” Beard said. “Give our players a lot of credit for the basketball that we’ve played consistently now for the last three or four months.”
Thursday’s victory, which ran UALR’s record at home to 10-0, was similar to how its won most games this season: stingy defense, limited turnovers and a strong performance from the three-point line (9 of 18).
Johnson, a week after scoring 24 in a victory over Georgia Southern, made 4 of 6 three-pointers, and Hagins made 3 of 5 from three-point range.
Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock
“My teammates are confident in me shooting the ball, as well as my coach,” said Johnson, who is making 60.1 percent of his three-pointers at home this year. “Anybody else on the team could do the same thing, so I’m just fortunate.”
UALR held Troy (6-16, 1-10) to 38.3 percent shooting for the game, in large part because of what it was able to do to Wesley Person. The sophomore guard, who entered the game averaging 16.7 points a game, missed his first five shots and never got into a rhythm in scoring 13 points on 5-for-14 shooting.
Beard gave senior guard Jermaine Ruttley credit for Person’s struggles. Ruttley took only one shot in 18 minutes, but he had five assists in addition to his defense off the bench.
UALR jumped to an 11-2 lead after a Mareik Isom three-pointer in the corner, but the team made just 7 of 22 shots the rest of the half for a 28-22 lead. Beard said he didn’t think his team lacked effort Thursday, but he was grateful to have options off the bench to provide a spark.
“Over the course of a 31-game season, you’re not going to always have incredible execution, but you’ve got to find a way to win,” Beard said. “You’re not always going to have incredible energy, but you’re going to have to have guys come off the bench and bring it, and I thought that was the case tonight.”
Junior Jalen Jackson did so in the second half. The junior from West Memphis was 0 of 4 with 2 turnovers in 6 firsthalf minutes Thursday, which elicited a pep talk from director of player development Ted Crass and teammates.
“The first half wasn’t a very good half for me,” Jackson said. “A couple of teammates told me to be me and be more aggressive. Look to pass if I have to, but just stay aggressive, and I ended up having a better half.”
Jackson was crucial in a key stretch that lengthened UALR’s lead. Up 48-33, Jackson scored inside with 10:45 left, then again two possessions later. His jumper with 8:44 remaining made it 56-33.
When he added two free throws to make it 58-36, he had scored eight of his 13 points in a three-minute stretch. All 13 came in the final 11 minutes of the game.
UALR coasted through the final seven minutes. All 13 players saw the floor, 10 played at least 11 minutes and 8 scored. UALR had nine turnovers, its lowest output in five games, and totaled 17 assists, tied for the most against a Sun Belt opponent.
The performance earned the team its 20th victory far sooner than most expected.
“It’s very important,” Hagins said. “But, at the same time, we didn’t just come here to win 20 games or anything like that. I think the main thing is we get better every game. It’s a process, and it’s something that we believe in.”
ARKANSAS STATE 79,
SOUTH ALABAMA 73, OT
Devin Carter had a career-high six three-pointers and scored 33 points and Anthony Livingston scored five of his 20 points in overtime as Arkansas State (11-11, 7-4) beat South Alabama (9-13, 4-7) at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro. Georgi Boyanov made two consecutive baskets and South Alabama led 73-72 in overtime. Livingston followed with a three-point play and Charles Waters added two free throws for a 77-73 lead with 23 seconds left.
Livingston sealed it with two free throws with 16 seconds to play.
Boyanov led South Alabama with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Sports on 02/05/2016