Big men a big key in SBC showdown

JONESBORO - One team is off to its best Sun Belt Conference start in five years, and the other would be right there if a shot or two would have fallen during two road losses last weekend.

UALR and Arkansas State can credit the improvement of two of the league’s better post players for where they are right now.

UALR (10-9, 5-2) will play ASU (10-7, 3-3) at 7:05 tonight at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro in a game that will feature two of the league’s top seven scorers in Will Neighbour and Kirk Van Slyke.

“That’ll be a good match-up, a good challenge to see them going against each other,” ASU Coach John Brady said.

Brady started raving about Van Slyke, a 6-10 transfer from Houston, last season while he was sitting out in accordance to NCAA transfer rules, but even the Red Wolves coach has been surprised by what he’s seen this season.

Taking over for the departed Brandon Peterson, a solid defender who lacked scoring ability, Van Slyke leads ASU in scoring (17.4) and rebounding (6.5). His 57.4 shooting percentage from the floor ranks second in the Sun Belt, and he had scored 21 or more points in three consecutive games before being held to 14 points in last Saturday’s loss to Western Kentucky.

“He’s been consistently good, particularly offensively,” said Brady, who is in his sixth season at ASU. “He’s limited in his mobility defensively, but you know, if he was a lot more mobile he’d be playing in the SEC. He’s at the right place for him.”

Van Slyke’s production has helped ASU shoot 45.7 percent and average 77.5 points, and UALR Coach Steve Shields said Van Slyke makes the Red Wolves more difficult to defend than they were with Peterson, who is playing professionally in Sweden.

“He’s such a fundamentally sound player,” Shields said. “You’ve got to be aware of a guy who can score it in different ways.”

ASU will likely play a zone defense for much of tonight, so Van Slyke might not always be matched up against Neighbour, but their paths will continue to cross as both continue to put together all-conference caliber seasons.

Neighbour was named second-team All-Sun Belt in 2012 and to the third team last year, but he is averaging career bests in points (18.0 per game), rebounds (7.1) and minutes (31.8) this season.

He scored a career-high 32 points in a Jan. 16 victory at Western Kentucky, and he is 12 points away from being the 19th UALR player to score 1,000 career points. If he keeps up his 17.8-point scoring average through the final 11 regular-season games and one game in theSun Belt Tournament, he’ll rank 10th all-time at UALR in scoring.

The secret, Shields and Neighbour said, has been his ability to stay healthy and retain the weight he put on during the summer.

Shields said Neighbour weighs approximately 218 pounds after finishing last year at about 204 after suffering through a bout with the flu late in the season. The year before, he played through a shoulder injury that led to offseason surgery.

Now he appears to be evolving into the player Shields always thought he could be, one who uses his 6-10 frame to get closer to the basket and to the free-throw line.

“He’s playing very low,” Shields said. “He’s got to continue to drive the basketball when an opportunity presents itself and not settle for jump shots. … That’s a big part of his ability to get to the foul line.”

Whichever forward has the better game could decide tonight’s game. If it’s Neighbour, the Trojans will stay ahead of every team in the conference aside from Georgia State.

If it’s Van Slyke, the Red Wolves could earn a needed victory after losing their last two games by a combined six points at Georgia State and Western Kentucky, which went to double overtime.

“There’s no reason to punch any kind of buttons,” Brady said. “We played well against those two teams, we just didn’t have anything to show for it. We’re an eyelash from being 5-1 [in the Sun Belt] and we’ve got to keep our nose to the grind.”THURSDAY’S GAMES UALR 69, Texas State 64 W. Kentucky 69, La.-Monroe 51 Georgia State 77, La.-Lafayette 70 Texas-Arlington 59, Troy 56 SATURDAY’S GAMES All times Central W. Kentucky at La.-Lafayette, 3 p.m.

Georgia State at La.-Monroe, 4 p.m.

S. Alabama at Texas-Arlington, 4:15 p.m. Troy at Texas State, 4:30 p.m.

UALR at Arkansas State, 7:05 p.m.

Today’s game UALR MEN AT ARKANSAS STATE WHEN 7:05 p.m.

WHERE Convocation Center, Jonesboro RECORDS Arkansas State 10-7, 3-3 Sun Belt; UALR 10-9, 5-2 SERIES ASU leads 47-29 RADIO KHLR-FM, 106.7, in Little Rock; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro TICKETS $6 children and seniors, $8 upper level, (wings), $10 upper level (sides), $12 upper level (center), $25 lower level.

INTERNET astateredwolves.com, ualrtrojans.com

Sports, Pages 19 on 01/25/2014

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