UALR, ASU eye bye with tournament near

UALR Coach Steve Shields knows a bye in the Sun Belt Tournament is at stake in today’s game against Arkansas State and he said he let the team know the possibilities. “Those things keep hope alive within a team,” Shields said. “Our guys are very aware of that.”
UALR Coach Steve Shields knows a bye in the Sun Belt Tournament is at stake in today’s game against Arkansas State and he said he let the team know the possibilities. “Those things keep hope alive within a team,” Shields said. “Our guys are very aware of that.”

Neither UALR nor Arkansas State can clinch a bye at the upcoming Sun Belt Conference Tournament when they meet tonight at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, but a victory would sure help.

ASU (17-9, 9-5) enters tonight’s 7 p.m. game with a chance to enter the tournament in New Orleans as high as a No. 2 seed, which comes with byes through the first two rounds and into the tournament semifinals.

UALR (13-15, 8-8) can still earn one of the two byes to the quarterfinals that go to the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds if it wins tonight and again March 8 against Louisiana-Monroe.

The Trojans, who ended a five-game losing streak with a victory at Troy on Thursday, also need ASU and Louisiana-Lafayette to each finish with 10-8 conference records, a scenario that could give UALR a bye according to the league’s tiebreaker procedures.

Both UALR Coach Steve Shields and ASU Coach John Brady are letting their teams know the possibilities.

“Those things keep hope alive within a team,” Shields said. “Our guys are very aware of that [tonight], and we’ll have a lot to play for on through the end of the Monroe game. … We’ve got to control what we can control. That’s our mind-set and urgency.”

Brady said he starts each week reminding his team of the league standings and the path they need to take to receive a break in the league tournament.

He even posts a copy of the standings in each one of their lockers.

“I think they need to know what we’re playing for,” Brady said. “We don’t make it any bigger than it’s going to be, but the point is, they’re aware of it anyway. The more we’re aware of it, and that our focus is on the next game, the better we’re going to be.”

A victory would give ASU a season sweep over its instate rival for the first time in three seasons.

ASU, which has three conference games remaining after tonight, battered UALR 77-49 in the season’s first meeting, on Jan. 25 in Jonesboro, using a double team to hold Trojans senior forward Will Neighbour to 1 point on 0 for 12 shooting.

Neighbour probably won’t play tonight after suffering a dislocated shoulder during a Feb. 22 home loss to Texas-Arlington. Neighbour didn’t travel with the team to Alabama for Thursday’s victory over Troy and Shields called Neighbour’s chances of playing a “long shot.”

Brady said if Neighbour doesn’t play, ASU could employ the double-team tactics it used against Neighbour on forward James White, who missed the last meeting with a sprained ankle, instead of Neighbour.

“We’ve been working on several things,” Brady said. “Regardless of whether Will plays or not, our team is going to be ready.”

UALR enters the game with a bit of confidence considering what it did Thursday. Ben Dillard scored 18 points and the Trojans, recorded assists on 18 of their 20 shots made.

Shields said Thursday’s game was a blueprint for how it needs to play in the season’s final week with Neighbour on the bench.

“The ball moved,” Shields said. “It may be Ben last night, it may be Josh [Hagins] tomorrow night, it might be James. I don’t know. But I think the key for us is we have urgency and passion to defend, that we have really good ball movement.”

Today’s game UALR MEN VS. ARKANSAS STATE WHEN 7 p.m.

WHERE Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock RECORDS UALR 13-15, 8-8 Sun Belt; Arkansas State 17-9, 9-5 SERIES Arkansas State leads 48-29 RADIO KABZ-FM, 103.7, in Little Rock; KFIN-FM, 107.9, in Jonesboro INTERNET ualrtrojans.com, astateredwolves.com TICKETS $7 end zones, $12 level 200, $18 level 100, $24 floor seats, $38 club seats

Sports, Pages 21 on 03/01/2014

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