1986 NCAA TOURNAMENT ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 90, NO. 10 NOTRE DAME 83

Shining moment

30 years ago: Trojans stuck dagger into Digger

UALR players and coaches celebrate after defeating third-seeded Notre Dame in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis. The victory was UALR’s only tournament victory and made the Trojans one of two 14 seeds at the time to make it to the second round.
UALR players and coaches celebrate after defeating third-seeded Notre Dame in the first round of the 1986 NCAA Tournament in Minneapolis. The victory was UALR’s only tournament victory and made the Trojans one of two 14 seeds at the time to make it to the second round.

Myron Jackson was sitting at his desk in San Antonio a few weeks ago when co-workers started asking him about his college days.

photo

Courtesy of UALR

Myron Jackson scored 22 points to lead UALR to a 90-83 victory over Notre Dame in 1986.

photo

Courtesy of UALR

The 1985-1986 UALR team started the season 4-9 but won 18 of the next 19 games and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time, where it defeated No. 3 seed Notre Dame and lost to North Carolina State in double overtime.

"I saw you on YouTube," one of them told him. "I said 'Really?' "

UALR men vs. South Alabama

WHEN 6 p.m. today

WHERE Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock RECORDS UALR 20-2, 10-1 Sun Belt Conference’ South Alabama 9-13, 4-7

SERIES South Alabama leads 28-16

RADIO KKPT-FM, 94.1, in Little Rock

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

UALR

POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Josh Hagins, 6-1, Sr. 12.6 4.1 G Kemy Osse, 6-1, Jr. 5.7 2.2 G Marcus Johnson Jr., 5-11, Jr. 13.3 2.8 F Roger Woods, 6-5, Sr. 8.4 3.8 F Lis Shoshi, 6-11, Jr. 6.6 5.4 COACH Chris Beard (20-2 in first season at UALR, 86-27 in fourth season overall)

SOUTH ALABAMA

POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Ken Williams, 6-3, Jr. 14.5 3.2 G Barrington Stevens, 5-11, Sr. 5.8 2.8 F Georgi Boyanov, 6-7, Jr. 11.4 7.9 F Tafari Whittingham, 6-8, Jr. 5.0 3.7 F Nick Stover, 6-6, Jr. 10.0 3.3 COACH Matthew Graves (32-54 in third season at South Alabama and overall)

TEAM COMPARISON

UALR USA 70.3 Points for 70.0 57.9 Points against 73.6 +0.1 Rebound margin +0.5 +4.1 Turnover margin -1.4 43.9 FG pct. 41.5 37.4 3-pt. pct. 33.0 73.6 FT pct. 63.7 CHALK TALK UALR is one of four Division I teams with 20 victories, and one of four teams with two losses through Friday night.... Marcus Johnson Jr. is averaging 16.7 points and shooting 60.8 percent from three-point range in 10 home games this season. ... Josh Hagins scored 15 points in Thursday’s victory over Troy to move into seventh place in UALR’s all-time scoring list. Hagins has 409 career assists, one shy from tying Paul Springer for fifth all-time. ... UALR held South Alabama to 35.1 percent shooting in a 69-60 victory on Dec. 30 in Mobile, Ala.

— Troy Schulte

UALR women vs. South Alabama

WHEN 4 p.m. today

WHERE Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock RECORDS UALR 9-11, 7-4 Sun Belt Conference; South Alabama 9-11, 5-6

SERIES Tied 12-12

RADIO KARN-AM, 920, in Little Rock

PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS

UALR

POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Monique Townson, 5-6, So. 6.5 2.9 G Sharde Collins, 5-9, Jr. 9.4 3.2 G Alexius Dawn, 5-4, Sr. 10.8 2.9 F Kaitlyn Pratt, 6-1, Jr. 8.7 6.9 F Shanity James, 5-11, Sr. 14.6 7.0 COACH Joe Foley (253-142 in 13th season at UALR, 709-223 in 29th season overall)

SOUTH ALABAMA

POS. NAME, HT, YR PPG RPG G Colby Davis, 5-9, Jr. 7.6 4.1 G Marquita Daniels, 5-7, So. 10.8 3.5 G Juliann Miller, 5-8, Sr. 7.0 2.9 F Taylor Jenkins, 6-0, Sr. 6.2 4.7 C Chyna Ellis, 6-2, So. 7.7 7.7 COACH Terry Fowler (22-54 in third season at South Alabama, 229-232 in 16th season overall)

TEAM COMPARISON

UALR CATEGORY USA 58.7 Points for 54.8 58.0 Points against 58.0 +1.9 Rebound margin -1.7 +1.5 Turnover margin -4.0 41.3 FG pct. 37.7 29.4 3-pt. pct. 28.2 63.3 FT pct. 62.6 CHALK TALK UALR’s four-game winning streak is its longest of the season. ... The Trojans are 29-1 in Sun Belt home games since January 2013. ... Alexius Dawn’s second-half three-pointer in Thursday’s victory over Troy broke a string of 16 consecutive misses. Dawn is shooting 23.9 percent from three this season. ... Sophomore Monique Townson had 11 points and a season-high 5 steals in Thursday’s victory. ... South Alabama had won three in a row before Thursday’s loss at Arkansas State.

— Troy Schulte

So Jackson flipped on his computer and found the 30-year-old video clip his co-workers were talking about.

It showed Jackson and a close-knit group of UALR teammates knocking off Notre Dame in the program's first, and most memorable, appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Jackson, that team's leading scorer and Trans America Athletic Conference Player of the Year, hit jumpers, and dished passes to Pete Myers, who scored 29 points, including a crucial three-point play late in the 90-83 victory. Michael Clarke had 27 points and Jackson scored 22 in upsetting the third-seeded Fighting Irish.

"Everybody kept talking about Cinderella," said Paul Springer, a freshman point guard on that team. "We didn't know what that word meant."

On Thursday, Jackson checked into the Little Rock Marriott attached to the Statehouse Convention Center, where the only UALR men's team to win an NCAA Tournament game played its home games in 1985-1986.

Jackson (19.4 points per game) and Myers (19.2 ppg) led that 23-11 Trojans team, most of which will be in attendance tonight and honored with rings at halftime of UALR's game with South Alabama.

Myers, currently an assistant coach with the Chicago Bulls and Coach Mike Newell, now at NAIA Dillard in New Orleans, won't make it. Clarke died last year.

The others will gather for the first time in almost three decades, including forward Paris McCurdy and assistant coach Jim Calvin.

"You see all the stuff that they got, but I don't think they were able to get that much if we didn't put the platform down," said Springer, who now lives in Sherwood. "It's good to see us appreciated."

The upset on March 14, 1986, remains UALR's lone NCAA Tournament victory. Newell led them to the NIT semifinal the next year and back to the NCAA Tournament in 1989 and 1990 before leaving for Lamar. The Trojans have been to the NCAA Tournament once since, a loss to North Carolina-Asheville in a 2011 play-in game.

The team that Jackson, Springer, McCurdy and Calvin will watch tonight is trying to distinguish itself just as the 1985-1986 team did. These Trojans, picked fifth in the Sun Belt Conference, are one of four Division I teams with 20 victories and enter tonight 20-2 overall, 10-1 in the Sun Belt.

First-year Coach Chris Beard welcomes the visitors.

"The first thing we've got to do is thank those guys," Beard said. "We've been using their story and their names and we always talk about that team. In a lot of ways, they laid the groundwork for what this team is trying to do and is trying to accomplish."

One notable difference between the current Trojans and the team from 30 years ago is that the 1985-1986 Trojans didn't make an early splash.

A Jan. 8 loss to Hardin-Simmons dropped UALR to 4-9, and a fiery locker room speech by Newell followed, along with an adjustment to the starting lineup.

McCurdy, a freshman forward from Detroit, said Newell set the Trojans straight on their priorities.

"I brought you guys here for basketball," McCurdy said, recalling the moment. "Basketball first, books second."

McCurdy, from Detroit, and Springer, from Fort Wayne, Ind., were put in the lineup and UALR was on its way.

"Pete, Myron and Clarke came to me and said 'You're a freshman, but we need you,' " Springer said. "So I got my shot and ran with it."

UALR won its next nine games. An overtime loss to Houston Baptist on Feb. 5 ended the winning streak, but the Trojans then won nine more, including an 85-63 victory over Centenary in the final of the TAAC tournament at Barton Coliseum to earn an automatic NCAA berth.

The Trojans (22-10) were seeded No. 14 by the NCAA Tournament committee, setting up a matchup with Notre Dame, which was 23-5 and ranked 10th nationally.

UALR, with about 100 fans but no band or cheerleaders, became a crowd favorite at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

The game was tied 11 times in the first half before Jackson's jumper at the buzzer gave UALR a 40-39 lead at halftime.

Clarke took over in the second half, and his basket inside gave the Trojans a 70-61 lead.

Notre Dame outscored UALR 10-0 to take a 71-70 lead, but Jackson's jumper gave the lead right back to UALR and Myers' three-point play off a pass from Jackson gave it the lead for good.

"We were confident, and we just played our best ball and we didn't get away from what we were used to doing," Jackson said. "It turned into what people would call an upset for them."

Three weeks later, Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps caught up with UALR assistant Calvin at the Final Four in Dallas.

UALR was known as Arkansas-Little Rock at the time.

"You can't trust a hyphen team," Calvin said Phelps told him.

Two nights after beating Notre Dame, UALR put a scare into No. 6 seed North Carolina State, coached by the late Jim Valvano, who gained everlasting fame for coaching North Carolina State to a stunning upset over Houston in the 1983 national championship game.

In Minneapolis, UALR's Ken Worthy made a free throw with 14 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, but the second free throw bounced out.

North Carolina State pulled away in the second overtime to win 80-66.

"I went cold," Jackson said. "I couldn't hit anything."

McCurdy said he and forward Curtis Kidd returned to their hotel room and contemplated the future.

"We should be in the Final Four by the time we're seniors," McCurdy said, recalling the conversation.

UALR returned the NCAA Tournament in 1989 and 1990 under Newell, but never again with McCurdy and Kidd, who transferred to Ball State after the 1986-1987 season.

This weekend is for celebrating UALR's only NCAA Tournament victory.

"That," Calvin said, "was a special bunch."

Sports on 02/06/2016

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