University of Arkansas at Little Rock men's basketball Coach Darrell Walker will sometimes ask a member of the media for a pen after games so he can circle several revealing numbers on his box score before he begins his postgame news conference.
Walker did not neeed a pen after a 77-73 loss to Appalachian State University on Saturday at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. One statistic told the story. There was no need for it to be circled.
Turnovers.
The Trojans (7-14, 2-6 Sun Belt Conference) had 21 of them.
"You give up 21 turnovers for 23 points," said Walker, UALR's first-year coach. "We're not good enough. Our margin of error is not good enough to where we can turn the ball over 21 times and think we're going to beat somebody."
The victory was Appalachian State's first in the Sun Belt Conference this season and UALR's fourth consecutive loss in league play. UALR has dropped two in a row at home, which has also sent the Trojans tumbling down the Sun Belt standings.
"We're at the bottom," Walker said. "Let's not sugarcoat it. We're at the bottom as far as I'm concerned. We're putting ourselves at the bottom."
The Trojans' turnovers never stopped, and other than a few too-late spurts, they never found any sustainable offensive rhythm.
"It never got started," Walker said. "Because that's 21 times that we never got a shot at the basket. That's 21 times that we never got an opportunity to score the ball."
The Trojans put together an 8-2 run in the first 3:07 minutes. With 17:27 remaining in the opening half, UALR freshman center Nikola Maric committed the team's first turnover and the Mountaineers took off from there.
Appalachian State (6-14, 1-7) closed the first half on a 34-23 run to lead 36-31 after the first 20 minutes. The Trojans committed 12 turnovers in the first half.
Freshman point guard Markquis Nowell finished with six turnovers and led UALR with 20 points. Redshirt junior guard Rayjon Tucker, who had 17 points, fueled the messy turnover fire with four more. Seven Trojans had two or more turnovers.
"Markquis with six. Rayjon with four. We've got so many guys with turnovers that it was unbelievable," Walker said. "We had 12 turnovers at halftime and then we kept turning it over. That's been our Achilles' heel, let's just be honest."
UALR's 21 turnovers were its most since 23 in a 75-61 loss at Louisiana-Lafayette on Jan. 5.
"That stats kind of are misleading," said Appalachian State Coach Jim Fox. "They shoot [46.4] percent but they turned it over 21 times. I think we did a good job of disrupting them."
Tucker was fouled making a three-pointer from the left wing with 13:48 to go in the second half. The rare four-point sequence was successful after Tucker added a free throw and the Trojans' offense was briefly alive despite trailing 50-44.
UALR cut Appalachian State's lead -- which grew as large as 12 points in the second half -- to 52-48 after Maric made a layup with 11:44 remaining.
The Trojans committed six turnovers from Maric's layup until the final buzzer.
"We turned it over at the wrong time and they were able to capitalize," Walker said.
UALR went to a full-court press in the final 4:30 minutes, hoping to take the turnover fight to Appalachian State while trailing 67-57.
The pressure forced the Mountaineers into five turnovers and helped UALR put together a 15-10 run in the final 4:20 minutes.
With both teams in the double bonus, Appalachian State went 10 for 10 from the free throw line after UALR began pressing.
"We made some runs," Walker said, "but they made their foul shots."
Sports on 01/27/2019