CONWAY, Ark. _ Fresh off a gut-wrenching overtime loss at No. 18 ULCA last Wednesday night on the west coast, the University of Central Arkansas Bears return home Sunday to face Alcorn State at 1 p.m. at the Farris Center.

UCA, a 27-point underdog to the Bruins, lost 106-101 in overtime at storied Pauley Pavilion. The Bears are now 1-2 on the season, but both losses have been to Top 25 teams. The Braves are 0-4, with losses to LSU, Creighton, Northern Iowa and Baylor, which also beat UCA in the season opener.

UCA made a school-record 18 three-pointers at UCLA, with senior guard Jordan Howard tying the arena record for an opponent with eight threes en route to his 35 points. Howard is averaging 27 points per game and has made 13 of 25 three-point attempts (52 percent).

Junior guard Thatch Unruh also had the hot hand on Wednesday, tying his career high with 20 points and connecting on four three-pointers. Freshman 7-foot center Hayden Koval also made four three-pointers as UCA finished 18 of 35 (51.4 percent) from beyond the arc to push the Bruins to the limit.

Through three games, the Bears are averaging 88.7 points per game, shooting 48.1 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from the three-point line. UCA has made 9.7 three-pointers per game.

"Sunday is a new game,' said UCA head coach Russ Pennell. "Alcorn is a quick, athletic, run up and down team. They're going to present some problems because they play kind of loose and free. The thing we have to do is not look at this like, oh, we lost to UCLA. We need to look at it as we're better, we're getting better and we have a chance to win at home on Sunday.'

The Bears continue their rollercoaster schedule Tuesday with a road game at South Carolina State and another at Tulsa on Saturday. They return home to host Morehead State on Nov. 29 before three consecutive road games at Little Rock (Nov. 29), at San Francisco (Dec. 4) and California (Dec. 6).