CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears, fresh off one of their best performances of the season, open Southland Conference play at home Saturday against the Lamar Cardinals.
The Bears and Cardinals will play before a Southland Television audience, with tipoff set for 2:05 at the Farris Center. It will be a new experience for the entire UCA coaching staff and several of the players. First-year head coach Corliss Williamson said he is both excited and a little nervous.
“A little bit of both,’ he said Friday. “You can only see so much from the film of a game, to when you actually step out there on the court and have a chance to experience play in this conference. We’re excited to get started, get the fresh start, but a little nervous as well, because we don’t know quite what to expect or how our guys are going to react.
“But this is the time of year you try to prepare for with the early season.’
That early season included one of the toughest non-conference schedules in school history, with three matchups against teams from the Big 12, as well as games at SMU, Hawaii and Missouri State.
“We played some tough teams, and it was by design,’ said Williamson, “to challenge our players. But also to challenge our staff to go up against some of those teams we played early in the year. We hope that will prepare us mentally and get us ready for conference play.
“With that said, I believe we’ve done our part as far as preparation in the early part of the year. Now we just have to continue to stick to our principles and what we’re trying to accomplish here and see how it works in the Southland.’
The Bears (4-9) are coming off a 76-73 loss at Oklahoma last Thursday in a game that was tied with 2:40 to play. UCA shot better than 50 percent overall, tied the Sooners in rebounding and made 12 three-pointers to OU’s eight.
“That was a big boost for us, to play the way we did at Oklahoma,’ said Williamson. “Our guys really hadn’t played that well as a unit or with that type of emotion since really the Oklahoma State game (on Dec. 1). It was nice to see our team get back to that type of mentality, that focus and intensity on the court. Hopefully that’s the type of play we can carry over to conference play.’
The Bears had their second-best shooting night of the season at Oklahoma, hitting 54.2 percent from the field and a season-high 54.5 (12 of 22) from three-point range. Senior guard Imad Qahwash led four players in double figures for UCA with 15 points. Junior guard Dewan Clayborn, who returned after a three-game injury absence, added 13 points, while junior forward Chris Henson had 11 points and a game-high 9 rebounds.
Clayborn led the three-point assault for the Bears, hitting 4 of 6 from beyond the arc. Junior forward Mark Rutledge added 10 points.
The Cardinals, 6-7 overall, beat NCAA Division III Louisiana College 114-62 on Tuesday night to break a three-game losing streak. Junior guard Mike James set a school record with 52 points and tied the school record with 11 three-pointers. James is Lamar’s leading scorer, coming off the bench, at 15.9 points per game. The Cardinals lead the league in scoring (88.8), rebounding (41.6) and three-pointers per game (7.8).
Qahwash, who started just his second game of the season against Oklahoma, continues to lead the Bears in scoring at 12.5 points per game. No other Bear is in double figures, although six more are averaging at least seven points per game.
Lamar has never lost to UCA, winning all six meetings since the Bears joined the Southland Conference. The Bears get their first Southland Conference test at home before a Southland TV audience.
“Our No. 1 goal for this year was to learn how to defend our home court,’ said Williamson. “We’ve lost some games here that I felt like we shouldn’t have, but if you’re going to have any success in conference, you have to develop the mentality that you don’t lose at home. You try to create the environment where when opponents come in, they know it’s going to be a tough place to play.
“That’s where we’re trying to get our program and it starts Saturday. What better time than the first home conference game on television. So we’ll have the opportunity to display the type of basketball we want to play right here at home in the very first conference game.’
