Foley passes praise onto his players
NEW ORLEANS — The Sun Belt Coach of the Year sat courtside with his assistants and scouted his future opponent in the Sun Belt Tournament.
Joe Foley on Monday received the award for the fifth time as the University of Arkansas at Little
Rock head women’s basketball coach.
He previously won the award in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2017. This year’s honor follows a season in which Foley became the Sun Belt’s all-time winningest coach, earned his 750th career victory, earned his 300th career victory as the Trojans’ head coach, and coached in his 1,000th career game.
UALR had clinched the top seed in the Sun Belt Tournament for the second consecutive season with a 17-1 Sun Belt record and finished 20-9 overall.
After watching Appalachian State beat Arkansas State University 79-68 on Tuesday afternoon at Lakefront Arena, Foley deflected credit for the award that leaves him one shy of the Sun Belt-record six awards earned by former Louisiana Tech Coach Leon Barmore.
“That just shows how well our kids played,” Foley said. “The coach that’s going to win it is going to be the coach that’s coaching the team where the kids are executing and winning a lot of games. That’s what’s happening.”
Junior forward Ronjanae DeGray was named to the All-Sun Belt first team, and graduate forward Keanna Keys and senior guard Monique Townson were named to the third team.
DeGray led the team with 13.3 points per game coming off the bench, and Keys and Townson anchored a scoring defense (52.9 points per game) that ranks first in the Sun Belt and sixth nationally.
“I was real pleased with that,” Foley said. “I thought all three of them deserved it. Especially to have two seniors go out and make all-conference, that’s really satisfying.”
UALR will play Appalachian State on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. The Trojans beat the Mountaineers 61-35 on Feb. 24, when UALR held Appalachian State sophomore center Bayley Plummer to seven points and 11 rebounds. Plummer had 18 points and 19 rebounds against Arkansas State on Tuesday.
“That’s one thing you’ve got to concentrate on is blocking her off the boards,” Foley said. “That’s one thing she’s really good at.”