New lineup rekindles UALR’s hopes
Roger Woods watched for all of one minute of Thursday’s second half as the UALR men’s basketball team suffered its worst home loss of the season.
The junior forward was front and center Saturday, helping UALR as resurrected its Sun Belt Conference Tournament hopes.
Woods scored 13 points and had eight rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench as UALR beat Texas State 6961 in front of an announced crowd of 1,788 at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock.
“That was a lesson,” said Woods of having to watch most of Thursday’s 77-61 loss. “I wanted to come in [tonight] and bring energy, help my team out any way I can.”
Woods wasn’t the only Trojan in need of a jolt following Thursday’s loss, their worst at home in more than three years. Coach Steve Shields said he held a 6 a.m. practice Friday morning after the game the night before ended at about 9:30 p.m.
Shields said the intent was to get his team to understand fully its place in the Sun Belt standings. The Trojans (9-14, 4-9) entered Saturday’s game in last place in the conference. They’re now in a threeway tie for ninth place with Arkansas State and Troy, and though they hold head-tohead tiebreakers over both teams, there are still seven games remaining.
“You’ve got to do something to change things up,” Shields said. “And I thought our guys responded well.”
Shields also made one of the most drastic changes to his starting lineup all season. James Reid, J.T. Thomas, Maurius Hill, Jerron Washington and Andre Brown started Saturday, the same group that started the second half of Thursday’s loss. But Saturday was the first time that group started a game together, and it was the first starts of the season for Washington and Brown.
The group seemed to give Shields what he wanted defensively.
UALR held Texas State (1111, 5-8) to 8 of 25 shooting in the first half as UALR took a 32-23 lead. After Texas State stormed to a 15-6 run over the first six minutes of the second half to tie it at 38-38, UALR responded with a 10-2 run to take back control.
UALR held a 41-28 rebounding advantage, its largest against a Sun Belt team this year, and held Texas State to 36.5 percent shooting. Emani Gant led Texas State with 14 points.
“I was very disappointed in our team’s intensity in the first half,” Texas State Coach Danny Kaspar said. “We need to realize where we are in the standings and play every game like it might be our last.”
The new starting lineup, which Shields said he hasn’t decided if he’ll stick with for Thursday’s game at Appalachian State, helped UALR defensively. But it was Woods and Mareik Isom coming off the bench to spark the scoring.
Isom made 3 of 4 three-pointers to tie a career-high with 14 points, while Reid had 11 points and Thomas and Josh Hagins each scored nine.
Woods scored nine of his 13 points in the second half, and seven after Texas State tied it at 38-38 with 13:59 left. His jumper with 10:26 left capped the 10-2 run that put UALR up 48-40, and his putback that turned into a threepoint play that gave UALR a 63-54 lead with 1:45 left essentially sealed the victory.
“I wanted to see [Woods] much more aggressive,” Shields said. “I wanted to see him driving the ball. I didn’t want to see a passive Roger. Roger is very good when he’s being aggressive.”
UALR played without point guard DeVonte Smith, who Shields said was suspended. Smith has started seven Sun Belt games but was not at the arena Saturday. Shields and Smith have a meeting scheduled for Monday.
“We’ll go from there,” Shields said. “I wanted DeVonte to get away from basketball for the weekend and lets recommit and meet on Monday.”