Juggling act paying off for Flanigan

UALR guard Marcus Johnson (right) is coming off a 22-point outing in Saturday’s game for the Trojans, who are three games out of first place in the Sun Belt standings going into tonight’s game against Troy.
UALR guard Marcus Johnson (right) is coming off a 22-point outing in Saturday’s game for the Trojans, who are three games out of first place in the Sun Belt standings going into tonight’s game against Troy.

Wes Flanigan wasn't interested in joking around Sunday at the Jack Stephens Center.

Flanigan's UALR men's basketball team ended a two-game skid with a victory over South Alabama on Saturday night. But with one day to prepare for tonight's game against Troy, he didn't take much time to relax.

"We're going to have to stay on edge," he said. "Last year, we did a really good job of that, just trying to find different ways to stay motivated and have an edge to us. I probably have to do a little bit better job of that."

Keeping a team on edge is something new to Flanigan, who is in his 19th season as a college coach but in his first season as the head coach.

Another concern for Flanigan has been getting the most out of a roster that has been affected at times by injury and inconsistencies.

Some of that came to fruition in Saturday night's 73-56 victory over South Alabama, the Trojans' largest winning margin over a Division I team this season.

Flanigan said he liked what he saw at guard, with senior Marcus Johnson Jr. and sophomore guard Deondre Burns starting side by side for the first time on Saturday night.

Johnson scored 22 points, his most in a Sun Belt game this year, while Burns had 9 points in 26 minutes.

Flanigan said Sunday that he likes the setup of Johnson and Burns on the court mostly because both can handle point- guard duties.

Johnson ran the offense to start Saturday's game, but Burns did it plenty, too. It's a similar philosophy to what UALR operated with last year, when now-departed Josh Hagins and Johnson were on the floor together.

Flanigan said Hagins and Johnson complemented each other because they were both true guards.

"Always want to keep two guards out there," Flanigan said.

That strategy has been difficult to implement with senior guard Dayshawn Watkins out with a toe injury and Burns, who averaged just 5.2 minutes last season, still feeling his way. An injury to senior forward Lis Shoshi has stunted consistency, too. He's missed the past two games -- Flanigan didn't expect him to practice Sunday -- forcing the Trojans to find another player inside.

Senior forward Jalen Jackson contributed season highs of 16 points with 8 rebounds on Saturday. Burns has averaged 14.0 points in four starts, while Kemy Osse scored 8 points while coming off the bench for the first time Saturday.

It added up to a victory that pleased Flanigan with regard to his rotation.

"Keep playing with it, keep tinkering," Flanigan said. "It's just finding constancy. If you find some constancy within your roster, you can find a consistent rotation. That's been something that we've struggled with."

If it works again tonight against Troy (10-10, 2-4), UALR (12-7, 3-3) will have a winning conference record for the first time since it beat Louisiana-Monroe to go to 1-0.

Defense will also factor into tonight's outcome.

Senior forward Stetson Billings has started the past four games because of the way he defends.

Flanigan said Jackson has been used inside more because of his defense, which could help against forward Jordon Varnado, who is averaging 15.3 points per game for Troy.

Flanigan said steady defense, as the Trojans had in Saturday's victory, has almost as much to do with how the team plays on offense. The Trojans won despite turning it over 20 times, seven coming in the final nine minutes that cut into a 24-point lead.

"When we've had our bad stretches this year, a lot of it stems from turnovers or bad offense," Flanigan said. "If we can limit our mistakes, we can have some success, and it'll help our defense."

Sports on 01/23/2017

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