Jalen Jackson said he knows that he and the UALR men's basketball team won't pull themselves from the bottom of the Sun Belt Conference standings in one night.
Any chance the Trojans have of climbing from their eighth-place spot will have to be done over a matter of weeks, not hours, starting with tonight's game against Appalachian State at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
Jackson, a Trojans' senior forward ,said he can't help but notice what's coming up.
The Trojans face their toughest stretch of the season after tonight's game against the Mountaineers (6-15, 1-9), one of only two Sun Belt teams behind UALR in the standings.
There are road games at Texas State, Texas-Arlington and Arkansas State followed by home games against Georgia State and Georgia Southern.
Three of those teams, Georgia Southern, Georgia State and ASU, are tied atop the Sun Belt standings, while Texas-Arlington is fourth and Texas State its fifth, and that attaches even more importance to tonight's game even beyond trying to end a four-game losing streak.
"Every game from this point on is very important," Jackson said. "There's going to be some tough games."
Another close loss Saturday put UALR (12-11, 3-7) in this spot. The Trojans were within three points of Coastal Carolina with less than four minutes to go before losing 82-75. It was UALR's fourth Sun Belt loss by seven points or fewer and its fourth loss in which it was within three points in the final four minutes.
Coach Wes Flanigan, who was an assistant on last year's team that won six Sun Belt games by seven or fewer points, is well aware of the sudden inability to win the close ones.
The Trojans showed earlier this season an ability to pull them out, too. Victories over St. Bonaventure, Central Arkansas and Northern Arizona all came by five points or less.
On Saturday, UALR got within four points of Coastal Carolina twice, but missed four three-pointers to prevent getting any closer.
"We're fighting a little confidence," Flanigan said. "We're beating ourselves up a little bit."
Portions of UALR's practices recently have had Flanigan setting a time, a score and then letting his team play out the final moments of a game. He said before Sunday's practice that they'll continue doing such work, too.
"It's getting to a point, where every game is a possession game for us," he said. "We do have some fight in us. Our guys are playing better, and now we've just got to find a way to close out some games."
Flanigan's frustrations come mostly from his team's defense. Or, perhaps more accurately, the offensive play of UALR's opponents. Coastal Carolina shot 55.8 percent from the floor on Saturday night, but after reviewing the film, Flanigan said he wasn't too upset with his team's defense.
"For whatever reason, we just can't seem to get anybody to miss right now," he said of the defense. "We've got issues personnel-wise, but I do think we've got some guys that are trying. Guys that are trying and giving it their best. We're sitting in between them and the rim a lot."
Appalachian State doesn't rank among the Sun Belt's better offensive teams, but most of the teams on UALR's schedule following tonight's game do. Texas-Arlington, Georgia Southern and Georgia State are ranked first, second and third in scoring in Sun Belt games, respectively, while ASU is sixth.
It's a stretch of games that might not look as imposing with a victory tonight.
"We've just got to keep grinding, keep our team in good spirits and start to close out some of these games," Flanigan said. "Not have those three- or four-minute spells where we can't score or get a stop. If we get away from that, we'll be all right."
Sports on 02/06/2017