MONROE, La. -- Kemy Osse had a different feeling when the UALR men's basketball team visited the West Coast almost three months ago.
It was UALR's third game of the season, and although it was off to a 2-0 start, victories over non-NCAA Division I members Central Baptist College and Centenary didn't provide much clarity about Coach Chris Beard's first team. But Osse, a junior guard, was confident about the Nov. 21 road game.
"The way we prepared for them, the way guys were locked in on the scouting reports," Osse said this week. "I just felt a big difference."
It showed on the floor, as UALR earned a 46-43 victory over San Diego State, which had won 27 consecutive home games against unranked nonconference teams.
UALR won seven more nonconference games after that day and has built a two-game lead over the rest of the Sun Belt Conference heading into tonight's game at Louisiana-Monroe (11-12, 7-5). With eight games remaining in the regular season, the Trojans (21-2, 11-1) have put themselves in the best position to grab one of the top two seeds and a bye into the semifinals of next month's conference tournament.
To finish it off, the Trojans will have to keep doing what they've done so well this year -- take their act on the road.
UALR enters tonight's 7:15 game at Fant-Ewing Coliseum having won six in a row, but five of its final eight regular-season games will be on the road, including the next four with trips to Louisiana-Lafayette, Georgia State and Georgia Southern to follow tonight.
"It's going to be a challenge," Beard said.
UALR has protected its home floor -- it's 11-0 at the Jack Stephens Center -- but it's put itself in position to have one of its best seasons by the work its done away from home. The Trojans are 10-2 outside of Little Rock and 9-2 on an opponent's home floor, tied with seven other teams for the most road victories in Division I men's basketball.
After going 3-9 on the road last year, the players theorize the turnaround is a product of roster makeup. Of the six players brought to UALR by Beard since spring, three of them -- Daniel Green, Jalen Jackson and Jermaine Ruttley -- had previous Division I experience and two others -- Lis Shoshi and Marcus Johnson Jr. -- were junior college transfers.
"We're an older team, we understand what it takes to play on the road," senior guard Josh Hagins said. "We're not one of those teams where we play one way at home and another way away from it. We just try to put 40 minutes together."
Hagins' words are backed up by numbers.
UALR is scoring less away from home (66.3 points per game) than it is at the Stephens Center (76.2), but it is holding teams to roughly the same production on the road (57.0) as opposed to home (56.1). UALR's shooting percentage falls from 47 percent at home to 41.7 percent on the road, but its opponents' percentage falls, too, from 37 percent at home to 31.6 percent on the road.
UALR is committing one more turnover on the road (11.2) than at home (10.4), but the Trojans are forcing roughly the same number (14.8 at home and 14.5 on the road).
"I think the road team has some advantages," Beard said. "You're staying in the hotel, you have meetings during the day, the home team has got to go to class. So, just like anything in life, it's kind of whichever way you look at it. This year's team has really embraced playing on the road."
Beard insists the biggest challenge this weekend remains the teams UALR will see rather than where it will see them.
UALR beat Louisiana-Monroe 58-57 on Jan. 9 in Little Rock, but the Warhawks have won five of their past six heading into tonight's game and are 7-0 this season at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.
Two days later, UALR will travel three hours south to play Louisiana-Lafayette (13-8, 9-3), which has won eight in a row since a Jan. 9 loss at Arkansas State. The Ragin' Cajuns are two games behind the Trojans in the Sun Belt standings and 8-0 in the Cajundome.
The Trojans believe they are up to the challenge.
"Coach has always put a lot of emphasis on the road. They're hard to win, but he loves winning them," Osse said. "The main thing for us is just focusing on playing hard when we get there."
Sports on 02/11/2016