The good news for UALR Coach Steve Shields is that James White looked just fine in his return from a sprained ankle Thursday night.

The bad news is that Will Neighbour’s ankle injury might leave the Trojans short-handed again.

A day after White returned from a four-game absence to score 14 points and grab seven rebounds in Thursday’s loss to Georgia State, Neighbour was wearing a protective boot on his right ankle and didn’t practice Friday for the Trojans, who will host Western Kentucky at 5 p.m. today.

“It’s college basketball,” Shields said. “As I say at the start of every year, every team’s ultimate success willbe determined by how they handle adversity.”

Thursday’s loss to the Sun Belt Conference-leading Georgia State likely eliminated any hope UALR (12-11, 7-4) had at catching them for the league’s top spot. But a victory today keeps alive the Trojans’ hopes at snagging the No. 2 seed in next month’s Sun Belt Tournament in New Orleans. That would come with a bye through the first two rounds and into the semifinals.

They’ll have to do it without completely healthy Neighbour, who winced through playing 26 minutes on an injured right ankle Thursday night while scoring four points and grabbing 10 rebounds.

“It was a pretty bit of pain, something I was hoping I would be able to play through,” Neighbour said. “It’s a shame that we can’t really catch a break right now. It seems everyone is getting injured at funny times.”

Neighbour, UALR’s leading scorer (17.1) and rebounder (7.4), suffered the injury in last Saturday’s victory at South Alabama when he went up for an offensive rebound with less than six minutes to go and came down on another player’s foot. He sat out for almost three minutes before returning to the game, then sat out of practice Tuesday before practicing a bit Wednesday.

He limped through parts of Thursday’s game while the Trojans struggled to find any offensive rhythm. He didn’t practice Friday but said he’ll try to be ready to go today against the Hilltoppers (15-7, 7-2), who have won five consecutive games since losing 87-83 in overtime to UALR on Jan. 16.

Shields said Neighbour’s status will be decided this morning after consultation with Neighbour and head athletic trainer Michael Switlik.

“I’ve always let our training staff and our players decide,” Shields said. “I’m going to take Will and [Switlik’s] lead tomorrow on it.”

Neighbour’s presence is crucial in helping defend Western Kentucky forward George Fant, who is averaging 13.7 points and 7.2 rebounds, but also because of what his playing well means for the Trojans’ success.

The Trojans’ offense became passive Thursday night without Neighbour, who has averaged 22.7 points and 8.3 rebounds in the conference games UALR has won this season. In UALR’s four Sun Belt losses, he is averaging 9.0 points and 6.0 rebounds.

The look Shields desires out of his team offensively showed up the closest in last month’s victory at Western Kentucky. Neighbour had a career-high 32 points in that game, but UALR shot 58 percent from the floor, made 5 of 9 three-pointers and had four players score at least 14 points.

“We have to have more consistent ball movement,” Shields said. “It’s got to move, but I go back to like I said. You can’t make excuses.”

Today’s game UALR MEN VS.

WESTERN KENTUCKY WHEN 5 p.m. today WHERE Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock RECORDS UALR 12-11, 7-4 Sun Belt Conference; Western Kentucky 15-7, 7-2 SERIES Western Kentucky leads 34-13 RADIO KHLR-FM, 106.7, in Little Rock TV Comcast Sports Southeast/Cox Sports Television INTERNET ualrtrojans.com, ESPN3.com TICKETS $7 (end zones), $12 (level 200), $18 (level 100), $24 (floor seats), $38 (club seats)

Sports, Pages 19 on 02/08/2014