CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears get their second shot at the undefeated Little Rock Trojans at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night at the Farris Center.
The Bears' late rally fell just short in the first matchup (a 79-73 loss) between the teams on Dec. 1 at the Stephens Center in Little Rock. The Trojans, a perfect 6-0 at that time, have won twice more since and stand at 8-0 and are receiving votes in the national polls heading into Round 2 against the Bears in what will be UCA's first home game of the season.
UCA is coming off a much-needed 10-day break after playing three road games in three states in a six-day span prior to last week's final exams. The final two games of that road swing were losses at Oklahoma, now ranked No. 3 in the nation, and at Pittsburgh from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"We definitely needed that break because we were gassed,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "That was important for us. We came back last Thursday and have been getting after it every day.
"I'll be shocked if we don't play really hard and get after them tomorrow night. Because that's kind of been our theme since we got back. Hey, you may screw up, but you screw up going hard. The theme has just been effort. Relentless, don't give in...
"When we played Little Rock the first time, we counted eight baskets that they made with under five seconds on the shot clock. So what if we had just played harder for five seconds on eight possessions, 40 more seconds, and let's say maybe they scored on three of those eight possessions. We're in overtime.
"And I get it, it's an education thing. And if they had something to draw from... If we could say, remember last year when we won and we did this or that... But we have nothing to draw from. They only have what I'm telling them has happened in the past and can happen again if they stay with this process. So if we could just win a couple of games, then you start thinking, hey, this does work.'
Pennell said the main problem in the first meeting was carelessness with the basketball.
"We turned the ball over too much, and that hurt us more than anything,' said Pennell. "Because Little Rock plays so few possessions, they want to keep it low. So if you turn it over, it's not like this is going to be a 70-possession game where you say, oh well, we'll get it back a bunch more times. That one possession might be the one.
"So when you play them, you have to keep your turnovers down around 12. I think we had 19 but we had a bunch of them in the first half that led to the deficit at halftime. And offensively, you have to move the ball against them. That's what we did well the last 10 minutes of the first game, when we got back into it.'
The Bears trailed the Trojans by as much as 14 points in the first game but cut the deficit to just four points with 30 seconds left before Little Rock went 4 of 4 from the free-throw line to set the final. Sophomore guard Jordan Howard was 4 of 6 from three-point range and led the Bears with 22 p oints. Sophomore guard Derreck Brooks battled foul trouble but finished with 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
Little Rock's Marcus Johnson Jr. led all scorers with 28 points off the bench.
UCA made the most of the break in the class room as well, finishing with a combined 3.2 grade-point average, with 12 of the 14 players sporting a 3.0 or better GPA.
"I was floored when grades came out,' said Pennell. "With all that we did this semester, as far as travel and just one home game tomorrow, I was really proud of what they did.'
Tipoff is 7 p.m. at the Farris Center, with Santa Claus making an appearance beginning at 7. Catch the action on The Bear 91.3 and at ucasports.com/watch.
