CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears begin a monster week Tuesday night with a matchup against the Little Rock Trojans at the Jack Stephens Center. 

    Tip-off is 7 p.m. for the first of two meetings between the teams this month. The Trojans return the game at UCA's Farris Center on Wednesday, Dec. 16.

    The Bears  (1-4) will play three games in a six-day period. If that's not enough, the three opponents are a combined 14-0 on the young season. Little Rock is 5-0, No. 6/7 Oklahoma is 4-0 (Thursday) and Pittsburgh (Sunday) is 5-0.

    "That's actually kind of downscaling it from last week when we played four in seven days,' joked UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "A lot of people say, 'coach, why do you play such a hard schedule.' And it's very simple. I didn't come to UCA to finish in the middle of the pack in the Southland Conference. If that's what they want, they got the wrong coach.

    "I want to win the Southland Conference, I want to go to the NCAA Tournament. That's my No. 1 goal. That's what drives me every day when I get up. It drives me when I go recruiting, it drives me when I coach my team. And the only way you're going to do that is you have to be as good as the best team in your league. And Stephen F. Austin in our league has been very, very good. 

    "So you better start playing some people that look like them before you get to them, or you'll never know how to compete at that level.'

    The Bears dominated UTSA 98-84 last Monday in Las Vegas to earn their first victory of the season, more than two months earlier that they got their first win last season. UCA did it with hot shooting from the field (57.1 percent), the three-point line (53.8) and the free-throw line (86.4).

    "We played extremely well against San Antonio,' said Pennell. "I think we're much better than we were a year ago, but we don't have much to show for it yet. But I've been doing this a long time and I know the progression it takes to get to where we want to go. And we're well on that road. When you watch film of last year and this year, it's night and day.

    "So I believe as we start playing more like-minded people, people more right now at our level, I think we're going to do OK.'

    The Bears are leading the Southland Conference in field-goal percentage, shooting 44.7 percent overall. Sophomore Mathieu Kamba is No. 1 in the league at 65.5 percent. However, UCA is 12th in field-goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 53.6 percent from the field.

    The Trojans, a team that is outscoring its opponents by an average of 16.6 points per game, will present a stern test.

    "Little Rock is 5-0, full credit to them,' said Pennell. "They have a new coach and a bunch of new players that are a lot older. They have some fifth-year guys, some junior college transfers. And Coach (Chris) Beard has done a really good job of making them blend. 

    "They've won very, very close games. They beat San Diego State 49-43.  And they beat Tulsa, a team we played and were beaten by, 64-60. We'll give it everything we got. I think the guys will battle. It will be kind of a battle of them trying to be ultra conservative and keep the pace slow, and us trying to play fast.

    "Whoever can do that the best will have a chance to win.'

    The Bears continue their road trip with a 7 p.m. tip-off at Oklahoma on Thursday on Fox Sports Southwest Plus and at 11 a.m. Sunday at Pittsburgh.