Joe Foley has a good problem to have.
Five consecutive victories later, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock women's basketball coach is worried about having a week off.
The Trojans did not have a game Thursday, so UALR's been sitting on its most productive shooting performance of the season since last Saturday.
UALR defeated Appalachian State 74-59 one week ago while shooting 34 of 59 from the field. The Trojans' 57.6 shooting percentage was the team's highest of the season.
Ahead of UALR's 3 p.m. tip today against Arkansas State University at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Foley said he is eager to see whether UALR's hot shooting will carry over after the time off.
"Anytime you shoot like we shot in those two games, then naturally you don't have to coach as hard," Foley said. "Shooting covers up a lot of sins. You can do a lot of bad things on defense, but if you're putting the ball in the hole every time down the floor, then it makes it a lot easier."
The Trojans (11-8, 7-1 Sun Belt Conference) also defeated Coastal Carolina 60-47 on Jan. 24 in Conway, S.C. UALR shot 24 for 54 (44.4 percent) against the Chanticleers while making a season-high 6 of 14 three-pointers.
UALR has shot 41.4 percent from the field this season, so the past two games were a promising uptick.
"Both games we really shot the ball well," Foley said. "We hadn't been doing that this year. You know, that's why I'm saying I was kind of hoping we'd stay in that rhythm ... but we'll just have to see what happens."
Foley brought sophomore guard Terrion Moore off the bench Saturday, mixing up the team's starting point guard spot once again.
Moore scored a career-high 17 points off the bench, and junior point guard Sydney Chastain -- the strongest defender among three options -- made her 15th start in 19 games in Moore's place and had nine assists.
"It doesn't matter to me which one starts -- [Chastain], Terrion or [sophomore guard] Tori [Lasker]," Foley said. "They're all starters. So it just kind of comes down to the game situation."
Today will be the 69th meeting between the Red Wolves and Trojans. In 14 games at the Jack Stephens Center, the Red Wolves are winless since the building opened in 2005-06.
"You've got to play your absolute best to get a win there," Arkansas State Coach Brian Boyer said.
The Red Wolves (8-11, 3-5) are skidding, having lost five games in a row dating back to an 87-79 loss against Troy on Jan. 12.
On the road at Appalachian State and Coastal Carolina last week, Arkansas State lost 75-67 to the Mountaineers on Jan. 24 and 88-72 at Coastal Carolina two days later.
"We've just hit a real skid since [Troy]," Boyer said. "Last week, we played a little bit better. But obviously we're going to have to play much, much better to get a win this weekend against Little Rock."
Sports on 02/02/2019