Pennell believes in basics

Saturday, March 8, 2014

CONWAY - New Central Arkansas men’s basketball coach Russ Pennell introduced his philosphies when he met media members for the first time Friday at Wingo Hall.

For Pennell, it’s simple: Ball movement will be emphasized on offense and his defenseswill employ the man-to-man style he learned as a player and coach under Hall of Fame coach Eddie Sutton.

Defense is a good place to start at UCA.

The Bears entered this week 337th out of 345 NCAA Division I teams in scoring defense, allowing 79.9 points per game. In their 119-102 loss Thursday night at Northwestern (La.) State, the Bears allowed 72 points in the second half after leading 52-47 at halftime.

Pennell, 53, who took Arizona to the Sweet 16 in 2009 as an interim coach and went 72-44 in 2009-2013 at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix with two NCAA Division II tournament appearances before being let go.

“You can shoot a poor percentage and hold your opponent to a poor percentage and still win,” said Pennell, who played for Sutton as a walk-on at Arkansas in 1979-1981 and coached under him at Oklahoma State in 1990-1992. “We will mix in some zone, but our base defense will be man-to-man.

“On the offensive end, I’m real big on ball movement. The ball will touch a lot of hands. I don’t like to see the ball dribble, dribble, dribble. If you like that style, sorry.”

UCA (8-20, 5-12 Southland Conference), which finishes the regular season today at Stephen F. Austin, will post its eighth consecutive losing season at the Division I level since transitioning from Division II in 2006.

Interim coach ClarenceFinley will be on the sidelines today.

Pennell, who signed a four-year contract with an annual base salary of $135,000, is the Bears’ fourth coach in the past 11 years, including Rand Chappell (2003-2010), Corliss Williamson (2010-2013) and Finley, who took over after Williamson resigned in August to take an assistant coaching position with the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.

Pennell, a former point guard for the Bears in 1981-1984, will look to lead UCA to its first conference championship since 2004-2005 when it was in the Gulf South Conference.

“I run my program like I run my family,” Pennell said. “I love my daughters [Morgan and Emily]. But there’s a standard they have to live to. There’s some things they have to do to stay in my good graces. And it’s the same thing with players.

“It’s real simple: If you don’t get the classwork done, you don’t get on the court.”

The Bears will lose their top two scorers, LaQuentin Miles and DeShone McClure, who will both exhaust their eligibility. Miles was academically ineligbile the first semester, but has come back to average a Southland-best 23.5 points per game. McClure is averaging 12.7 points per game and is shooting 36.1 percent (48 of 133) from three-point range.

Pennell and new assistant Anthony Boone, a Helena-West Helena native, are already getting a jump on recruiting. Pennell said Friday that eight players are scheduled to take visits in the next month before national signing day April 16.

“We don’t want to make it strictly Arkansas. We want to get the great players here,” Boone said. “But the way we see it, we’re going to try to be successful one way or the other. We’d love to get great Arkansas talent to come here.”

UCA Athletic Director Brad Teague said he is hopeful that Pennell can revitalize the Bears’ program.

“He hasn’t been here more than a day, but the expectations are pretty high,” Teague said. “He’s done this before at a lot of places. We’re real confident he can come in here and solidify this program as a top program in the conference. We need that.”Rough start

The Central Arkansas men’s basketball team has not posted a winning record in eight seasons since starting the transition to Division I in 2006. The Bears, who wrap up the regular season today at Stephen F. Austin, have played in the Southland Conference Tournament once in the four seasons that they have been eligible.

RAND CHAPPELL SEASON REC. CONF 2006-2007 10-20 4-12, 6th East 2007-2008 14-16 4-12, 6th East 2008-2009 10-19 3-13, T-5th East 2009-2010 10-19 3-13, 6th East CORLISS WILLIAMSON 2010-2011 5-24 1-15, 6th East 2011-2012 8-21 3-13, 6th East 2012-2013 13-17 7-11, T-7th CLARENCE FINLEY 2013-2014 8-19^ 5-11 (TBD) * Ineligible for NCAA and Southland Tournament ^ At Stephen F. Austin today SOURCE UCA Sports Information RESEARCH Jeremy Muck, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Sports, Pages 21 on 03/08/2014