Short-handed Trojans swarmed by Bearcats

UALR Coach Steve Shields said 11th-ranked Cincinnati forced the Trojans to play at a pace at which they weren’t comfortable.

UALR Coach Steve Shields said 11th-ranked Cincinnati forced the Trojans to play at a pace at which they weren’t comfortable.

Friday, December 7, 2012

— UALR knew it could have a tough time just getting through No. 11 Cincinnati’s full-court pressure with a young roster and a freshman point guard.

Too often, the Trojans never even made it to midcourt while playing without one of its top reserve guards.

The Bearcats set a school record with 23 steals Thursday night in an 87-53 victory that came down to the Trojans’ inability to hold onto the ball. Coach Steve Shields repeatedly called timeouts to try to settle his team, without success.

The Trojans fell to 0-8 against Top 25 teams during Shields’ 10 seasons at UALR.

“I knew coming in we had to have poise and toughness with the ball,” Shields said. “I thought Cincinnati did a good job of taking us out of what we wanted to do offensively and forced us to play at a pace we didn’t want to play at.”

UALR announced before the game that freshman point guard Josh Hagins, who averages 21 minutes per game, did not make the trip. Shields left Hagins in Little Rock to concentrate on class work.

Sean Kilpatrick scored 10 of his 18 points in the second half, and the unbeaten Bearcats ran away with it by repeatedly stealing the ball and heading for layups or dunks.

“We’re proud, but that’s expected,” Kilpatrick said. “That’s something we have to keep doing every game and continue to get better at. I’m not sitting here saying I’m satisfied with it. I appreciate it, but we’ve got to keep doing it every night.”

The Bearcats (8-0) have become one of the nation’s top defensive teams while starting with eight consecutive victories for the 15th time in school history. It’s the second time in three seasons that they are 8-0.

Playing with their highest ranking since they were No. 11 at the end of 2003-2004, the Bearcats threw the ball away early, prompting Coach Mick Cronin to substitute for all five starters. Cincinnati was coming off attention-getting victories over Iowa State and Oregon followed by a 58-56 victory over Alabama on Cashmere Wright’s fadeaway at the buzzer Saturday.

“We’ve still got to get better with our offensive execution at times,” Cronin said. “We’re careless with the ball, taking ill-advised shots at times.”

Despite their early sloppiness, the Bearcats quickly wore down the Trojans (7-4), who had a season-high 32 turnovers, 18 in the opening half. Cincinnati’s steals topped the previous school record by three.

The teams combined for 54 field goals and 49 turnovers. Cheikh Mbodj had 12 points and seven rebounds for Cincinnati, which finished with four players with at least 10 points each. Shaquille Thomas had the record-setting 21st steal and a dunk with 6:11 to go.

Will Neighbour, Ben Dillard and James White scored 10 apiece for UALR.

The Trojans have started freshman John Gillon at point guard the past nine games. He struggled against the unrelenting pressure, turning the ball over eight times. Junior shooting guard Leroy Isler had seven turnovers.

“We had 32 turnovers, which is unheard of,” Shields said. “We didn’t have the poise and toughness that we needed.”

Sports, Pages 22 on 12/07/2012