State sports briefs

ATHLETICS

UALR athletic director signs extension Athletic Director Chasse Conque signed a five-year, $178,880 per-year contract extension with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Tuesday, which is set to expire June 30, 2022.

The contract’s incentives include bonuses of: $2,500 each time the men’s or women’s basketball team makes the NCAA Tournament; $1,500 for NIT appearances; $5,000 when revenues from ticket sales, donations and sponsorships reach $3 million; and $6,000 if the university’s NCAA Academic Progress Rate averages 960 or higher across all sports in the first year and $4,000 every year it occurs afterward.

If Conque terminates the contract by leaving for a similar position elsewhere, he will owe the UALR $50,000 if he leaves by June 30, 2018, and $25,000 if he leaves by June 30, 2019.

Conque was hired on Jan. 6, 2015, and the athletic department has raised nearly $4 million over the past two years.

In the past five years, UALR’s 81 percent graduation success rate is the highest of any NCAA Division I program in Arkansas.

UALR has won a combined 11 team and individual Sun Belt Conference championships during his tenure, which includes the men’s basketball team’s run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2016 and the women’s basketball team’s run to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2015.

Starting in December, the university also will launch a football and marching band feasibility study. — Brooks Kubena

BASKETBALL

Downtown Tip-Off Club sets schedule

The Downtown Tip-Off Club released its 2017-2018 speaker schedule on Monday.

University of Arkansas, Fayetteville men’s basketball Coach Mike Anderson will be the club’s first speaker Dec. 15, the day before the Razorbacks’ game against Troy at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

Other speakers scheduled to speak include University of Arkansas at Little Rock women’s basketball Coach Joe Foley (Jan. 8), Philander Smith College men’s basketball coach and former Razorbacks and NBA player Todd Day (Jan. 16), University of Central Arkansas men’s basketball Coach Russ Pennell (Jan. 22), UCA women’s basketball Coach Sandra Rushing (Jan. 29), UALR men’s basketball Coach Wes Flanigan (Feb. 5), Arkansas baseball Coach Dave Van Horn (Feb. 12), Arkansas State University Athletic Director Terry Mohajir (Feb. 20) and SEC Network basketball analyst and KABZ-FM radio host Pat Bradley (Feb. 26).

All luncheons will be held at the Wyndham Riverfront hotel in North Little Rock except for Day’s, which will be held at the North Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.

Luncheons cost $25 per person. To reserve a spot or for additional information, contact Telina Lane or Jamie Pettit at (501) 791-8543 or by email (tlane@nlr.ar.gov or jpettit@nlr.ar.gov). — Jeremy Muck

SOCCER

UCA to face SMU at NCAA Tournament

The University of Central Arkansas will make its first NCAA Tournament appearance when it travels to Southern Methodist University for a 6 p.m. Thursday first-round matchup at Westcott Field in Dallas.

The Bears (9-10-1) advanced to the NCAA Tournament after earning their first Missouri Valley Conference championship Sunday by defeating Missouri State 1-0 in overtime.