LITTLE ROCK — The blueprint for beating the UALR men’s basketball team seems to have been set by opponents less than two months into the season: Run a press and wait to rattle the Trojans’ young backcourt.
Handling those situations better has been Coach Steve Shields’ primary message during a nine-day layoff between a Dec. 6 loss at then-No. 11 Cincinnati and today’s 2 p.m. game against Tulsa (6-3) at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
“That’s No. 1,” junior guard Leroy Isler said. “We’ve got to take care of the basketball.”
The Bearcats pressured the Trojans for most of that 87-53 blowout victory, forcing UALR into a season-high 32 turnovers. UALR was without one of its primary ball-handlers for that game — freshman guard Josh Hagins was left in Little Rock to complete some school work — but three players had six or more turnovers each.
It was a similar scene for UALR on Nov. 17 at Louisiana Tech (19 turnovers in a 70-52 loss) and Nov. 19 at Ole Miss (20 turnovers in a 92-52 loss).
Shields said Tulsa hasn’t shown much pressure defense this season under firstyear Coach Danny Manning, but given his team’s struggles with it, Shields expects to see teams press for at least part of every game the rest of the season.
“We haven’t valued the ball,” said Shields, who is in his 10th season with the Trojans. “We’ve still got to be able to handle adversity. When it goes south on us, we struggle to get it turned. That’s the trouble with young guards.”
This week’s schedule has provided an opportunity to improve in those areas. After the loss at Cincinnati, UALR took Saturday and Sunday off before practicing five consecutive days.
Sophomore guard Taggart Lockhart said workouts have focused almost solely on handling a press. They have practiced against six defenders at times and have run drills that included three teams of four players, with one team pressing the entire way down the floor. If a team scores, a new group quickly moves in and sets up another press.
“I think we’ve just got to calm down,” Lockhart said. “That Cincinnati game, we’d see pressure and we just went crazy and ran wild. We just have to calm down, settle down and get the ball across the court.”
The Trojans can expect better luck today, considering their track record at home. They are 6-0 at the Stephens Center and have averaged 13.2 turnovers in those games, as opposed to 18.0 in five road games.
They also have the benefit of fresh legs.
The loss to Cincinnati capped a string of eight games in 18 days for UALR. It included five home games, but also a three-day trip to Mexico and its toughest opponent this season in the Bearcats.
Shields wasn’t pleased while looking at a stat sheet following that loss, but he took solace in looking at his schedule for the next week. For the first time since before the season, he could spend a couple of hours on the Stephens Center floor tutoring freshman guards Hagins and John Gillon, who had eight turnovers against Cincinnati.
Shields said the payoff from the week full of workouts instead of games might not be visible today, but it could emerge later in the season when UALR tries to stay in the middle of a Sun Belt West Division race.
That’s when UALR played its best last season — the Trojans were 12-6 after Christmas last year following a 3-10 start — but Shields is quick to note D’Andre Williams, a first-team All-Sun Belt pick last year, is no longer around and Gillon and Hagins are still searching for the consistency the veteran displayed.
“We had a certain level of poise [last year],” Shields said. “There’s no substitute for experience, so putting them in that situation as often as we can is important. ... I think we’ve got good young guards. It’s just a matter of putting them in that situation.”
Sports, Pages 21 on 12/15/2012