UALR women have tall order in NCAA tourney opener

Ronjanae DeGray said she’s heard all the stories.

The Trojans beat Texas A&M 69-60 in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament in 2015.

Graduate forward Keanna Keys had played four minutes in that game. She’d even taken a shot as a freshman.

The Trojans had been up 16 points with 15 minutes left against Arizona State in the second round.

Senior guard Monique Townson had watched from the bench as the lead vanished into a 57-54 loss in the final 30 seconds.

Keys and Townson are the only players on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock women’s team that are making a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, and DeGray, a junior forward, was named to the Sun Belt Conference All-Tournament team after the dance-clinching, 54-53 victory over Texas State on Sunday in the Sun Belt championship game.

No. 14 seed UALR (23-9) will play No. 3 seed Florida State (25-6) in a first-round game today at 10 a.m. Central at the Donald L. Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla.

“I’m ready to experience it myself,” DeGray said. “Just play on a bigger stage and not let the excitement get to me.”

Keys and Townson’s tournament experience is minimal, and the other four players that average over 20 minutes per game are either juniors (DeGray, 13.9 points per game; Raeyana DeGray, 6.5 ppg) or freshmen (Tori Lasker, 7.9 ppg; Terrion Moore, 3.9 ppg).

Florida State has a projected starting lineup made up entirely of seniors and TCU graduate guard AJ Alix, and the group has played in three NCAA Tournaments and reached the Elite Eight last season before losing 71-64 to eventual champion South Carolina.

UALR Coach Joe Foley said the Seminoles’ experience led to a low turnover margin (+2.26), which ranks fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Florida State’s 13.3 turnovers per game ranks 49th-least nationally.

Foley and several Trojans players have said this season that their one-on-one defense leads into its offense that steals and defensive rebounds transfer to open layups and jump shots. It’s the kind of pressure that can turn opponents mistakes into a “nightmare,” as Troy Coach Chanda Rigby said before the Sun Belt Conference tournament.

Foley said the Seminoles may be able to dream easier against the UALR defense, which ranks sixth nationally in scoring defense (50.5 points allowed per game).

“They know how to play,” Foley said. “They’re not going to beat themselves. There’s no doubt.”

He said a lack of turnovers and fast breaks wouldn’t necessarily change UALR’s offensive approach. That, Foley said, would be more dictated whether Florida State uses a man or zone defense against them.

“We play well against the man, and they’re 80 percent man,” Foley said. “But there’s been a lot of teams that play 80-100 percent man, and then when they play us, they play a zone. So, who knows? We’re not like a lot of teams. We are going to work the ball and get good shots, so that slows the game down a bit for the other team.”

Foley said after the Sun Belt championship game that the zone defense has “been our nemesis all year.”

With four players 6-2 or taller, the Seminoles mostly matched up one-on-one with opponents and led the ACC with 43.0 rebounds per game, which ranks 13th nationally.

Foley said Florida State uses its size and speed to its advantage.

“They love to push the ball,” he said.

“They like to shoot the three. They’re a transition team. They’re not one of those teams that’s going to walk the floor.”

They got [6-3 center Cha-trice White, 9.0 points per game], and they’re going to try and jam it in. They’re going to run up and down the floor.”

The Trojans will be tasked with slowing another of the nation’s top offenses with Florida State, which ranks 13th nationally with 81.2 points per game.

UALR held both Troy (81.9 ppg) and Texas State (70.7 ppg) to more than 18 points below their scoring averages during the Sun Belt tournament.

The key with Florida State, Foley said, is to keep the Seminoles from running away with the game.

“We just got to keep them from getting layups, beating us down the floor and creating easy shots,” he said. “That’s evidently been a hard task for everybody. That’s the reason they’re so highly ranked, and that’s the reason they’re such a good team.”

Today’s game

UALR VS. FLORIDA STATE

WHEN NCAA Women’s Tournament WHEN 10 a.m. Central WHERE Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee, Fla. RECORDS UALR 23-9; Florida State 25-6

RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in Little Rock TV ESPN2

photo

Joe Foley

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