Shields asks Neighbour to move in
“I don’t want to look back and say ‘I should have been in the gym more’ because I missed out on an opportunity,” — UALR forward Will Neighbour
UALR senior forward Will Neighbour has added 20 pounds, strengthened his twice-injured shoulders and appears to be flu free entering his third season with the Trojans.
That’s all good news for Neighbour, 6-10 and now up to 225 pounds, who said he hopes his third season with the Trojans is his first to stay healthy from start to finish.
“I’m keeping my weight solid, my shoulders are feeling solid and I’m feeling good,” said Neighbour, whose final season with the Trojans starts at 7 tonight against North Florida at the Jack Stephens Center.
If Neighbor, third-team All-Sun Belt last season and second-team as a sophomore, aspires to achieve first-team status, he can’t afford to be slowed by the ailments and illnesses that slowed his junior season.
Neighbor averaged 10.7 points and 7 rebounds last season, but he scored just six in UALR’s season-ending loss to Florida International in the Sun Belt quarterfinals, weakened by an illness that Coach Steve Shields said had him playing at 205.
He made second-team All-Sun Belt as a sophomore, averaging 10.5 points and 5.3 rebounds, despite wearing a brace to protect a labrum injury that required off-season surgery.
Staying healthy for an entire season is something Neighbour, a native of Grayshott, England, said could boost his performance.
“Mentally, knowing I’m healthy, that’s big-time for me,” he said.
Keeping his weight up and his health good will also help Neighbour’s transition to being more of an inside threat for the Trojans.
Neighbor shot 104 three-pointers as a sophomore, making 41.3 percent of them, but 71 last year, making 44.2 percent.
Those numbers could dip even more as Neighbour concentrates on positioning himself closer to the basket and getting to the free-throw line.
Along with fewer threepoint attempts, expect to see fewer fadeaway shots from the baseline that had been part of Neighbour’s repertoire the past two seasons.
“He made some of them, because he’s a talented player,” Shields said.
“But the degree of difficulty on that is quite high. We’re in hopes of our degree of difficulty being a little bit less this year, and I think he’s gotten a little bit better. I really do.”
Two new point guards could help get the ball into Neighbour, too.
Shields said late last week he had not decided on who would start at point guard for tonight’s opener, but said he expects both DeVonte Smith and J.T. Thomas to play.
It’s a similar rotation the Trojans had last year, when Josh Hagins and John Gillon shared the role. The difference is Smith and Thomas are both junior-college transfers rather than true freshmen.
They’re primary objective, Shields said, is to get others involve.
“Both of those are set-upfirst-type point guards,” he said.
Getting the ball to Neighbour is a priority for UALR, which was picked by league coaches to finish sixth in the Sun Belt.
“I don’t want to look back and say ‘I should have been in the gym more’ because I missed out on an opportunity,” said Neighbour, whose motivation is fueled by UALR getting knocked out in the first game of the Sun Belt tournament in consecutive years.
“I’m just going to do what I did the last two years, put everything I got into it, and hopefully come out of it with something to go home with.”