Practices for the University of Arkansas at Little Rock women's basketball team run a bit longer these days, Coach Joe Foley admitted.
There's been a little more teaching required this season. This is what happens when coaching a young team. With six freshmen on the roster, this is one of the more youthful squads of Foley's 17-year tenure at UALR.
Today’s game
UALR women vs. Coastal Carolina
WHEN 6:30 p.m.
WHERE Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock
RECORDS UALR 5-10 (3-1 Sun Belt); Coastal Carolina 13-2 (3-1)
RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in Little Rock
INTERNET ESPN-Plus
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
UALR
POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG
G Tori Lasker, 5-7, Jr. 3.9 2.5
G Sydney Chastain, 5-7, Sr. 2.9 3.0
G Kyra Collier, 5-9, Sr. 15.8 5.2
F Teal Battle, 6-1, Jr. 12.1 5.2
F Alayzha Knapp, 6-2, Fr. 8.5 2.9
COACH Joe Foley (338-183 in 17 seasons at UALR)
COASTAL CAROLINA
POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG
G Torrie Cash, 5-6, Sr. 8.7 3.5
G Kaylin West, 5-7, Jr. 3.0 1.4
G Caitlin Roche, 5-8, Sr. 6.2 2.2
F Janae Camp, 6-1, Jr. 3.6 5.2
C Naheria Hamilton, 6-4, Sr. 8.1 7.5
COACH Jaida Williams (99-99 in seven seasons at Coastal Carolina)
TEAM COMPARISON
UALR Coastal Carolina
55.5 Points for 76.7
64.9 Points against 58.3
-1.7 Rebound margin +7.7
-1.8 Turnover margin +2.5
38.4 FG pct. 43.9
26.5 3-pt pct. 35.2
67.2 FT pct. 72.4
CHALK TALK UALR enters on a 38-game home winning streak in Sun Belt Conference play. ... Coastal Carolina enters on a three-game winning streak. ... UALR and Coastal Carolina each sit in a six-way tie for first in the Sun Belt standings at 3-1. ... Coastal Carolina has the No. 1 scoring defense in the league (58.3 ppg), and the No. 2 scoring offense (76.7 ppg).
"Any time you got six freshmen, it takes a while," Foley said Tuesday. "Practices are a lot slower, just simply because you're teaching all the time. You're trying to get kids in the right position all the time. It just takes a lot of time.
"The more you have to teach, the more you have to stop, the longer it takes to play at the speed that [you want], because we're always stressing we got to play at a faster speed than the other team likes to play."
Some of these practices can push three hours. Foley doesn't prefer that, but he deems it necessary in what he characterized as a rebuilding season.
"I'd rather two hours and get out," Foley said. "And hopefully by the end of the month, we'll be there, especially once school starts back, because you can't wear them out like that.
"It's been pretty nice that we've had all this time and we don't have to rush, and I think they're starting to understand everything. So it should start moving, and it should be easier to get in and out, and I think that's going to be very important."
The Trojans are 5-10, but the only record that matters to Foley is their 3-1 mark in Sun Belt Conference play. UALR is in a six-way tie for first in the Sun Belt heading into today's game against Coastal Carolina (13-2, 3-1) at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m.
It's a matchup between one of the league's top offensive teams and one of the league's worst. Coastal Carolina ranks second in the Sun Belt in scoring offense, averaging 76.7 points per game, while UALR is ranked dead last, averaging 55.5 ppg. Coastal Carolina also allows a league-best 58.3 ppg.
Foley's UALR teams are not known to be prolific on the offensive end. That's been the case again this season, but there have been glimpses of a capable offense.
In the Sun Belt opener Jan. 2, the Trojans tallied a season high in points and shot 51.9% in a 78-66 road victory over Texas State. On Saturday against Georgia State, UALR built a 32-16 halftime lead -- its largest lead at intermission this season -- before cruising to a 66-46 win and shooting a season-high 56%, despite a sloppy, turnover-riddled second half that led to Foley calling out his team after the game for a lack of maturity. Senior guard Kyra Collier said UALR "kind of got a little complacent" in the second half.
In Foley's eyes, nothing encapsulated where the Trojans' progress stands more than that latter game. At times it can all click, and then other times, not a lot does.
"You look at us the first half, you think, man, we're pretty close," Foley said. "You look at us the second half, we're a long ways away."
Getting closer to that point will require further help around the Trojans' leading scorer Collier, who last week became the eighth player in program history to reach 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds.
Forwards Teal Battle, Alayzha Knapp and Krystan Vornes have provided a stable supporting cast. Battle is UALR's second-leading scorer, averaging 12.1 ppg.
Knapp has been one of the freshmen who's been thrust into a substantial role. The Tulsa native is the team's third-leading scorer, averaging 8.5 ppg.
"It was pretty hard at first, just being so young, and the pace of the game, it's way faster," Knapp said. "When you get here, it's like everybody can score. Everybody is good. You're not the best on the team anymore. That was something I had to adapt to."
Freshman forward Nicole Hemphill, who'd been in the starting rotation, is another one of the Trojans' freshmen who's shown promise, although she's missed the past six games with an ankle injury. Foley said Hemphill is likely to return next week.
"That just provides us with depth that we need pretty bad, because everything else we got over there on the bench is freshmen," Foley said. "They're not ready for it yet. That's the reason you've seen our rotation be so limited. Those other freshmen [are] just not ready, and it's not anything they can do about it. It just takes a while."
Sports on 01/15/2020