CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears open Southland Conference play Thursday, hosting the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at the Farris Center. Game time is 1 p.m.
   The Bears, 6-7 overall after a tough non-conference slate, enter league play with the most non-conference victories in the Coach Russ Pennell era. UCA lost 96-82 to the Pac-12 Oregon Ducks _ an NCAA Final Four team a year ago _ last Wednesday in their last outing before a short holiday break. The Bears are 4-0 at home this season while the Islanders (3-7 overall) are 0-6 in road games.
   "It's nice we get to start with two at home,' said Pennell. "We've been good at home, and we need to get off to a really good start against two really good teams in Corpus Christi and Southeastern Louisiana.'
   Senior guard Jordan Howard, this week's SLC Player of the Week, had the hot hand against the Ducks, scoring 35 points for the second time this season and making 8 of 9 three-point shots. He is currently second in the nation in scoring at 24.8 points per game behind Oklahoma super freshman Trae Young. He is third in the nation in three-pointers made with 53, which gives him 326 for his career and puts him just six away from breaking the SLC career record of 331. Howard already owns the UCA school record, broken midway through his junior season.
   Senior Mathieu Kamba, who had 14 points and six rebounds against Oregon, has topped the 1,000-point career scoring mark and now has 1,144 points heading into his final semester of action. His 569 rebounds punts him 12th in UCA history, just 21 rebounds behind 11th-place Gene Ary. Kamba has scored in double figures in 10 of UCA's 13 games this season, including a season-high 23 points in UCA's win over Pac-12 California earlier this month.
   Junior Thatch Unruh is averaging 8.5 points and 3.5 rebounds for the Bears, who played three Pac-12 teams, as well as teams from the Sun Belt, American Athletic Conference, West Coast Conference, Big 12 and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference during the first semester. UCA took then-No. 20 UCLA to overtime before losing 106-101 at storied Pauley Pavilion back in November. UCA knocked off its first Power 5 team in California, beating the Bears 96-69 on Dec. 6 in Berkeley, Calif.
   "We had some games we should have won in the non-conference schedule,' said Pennell. "Right now, we probably should be 9-4, or maybe at worst 8-5. I told the guys, they need to go home and ponder that, they need to think about that. We have to get from the what could bes to the reality of this is what it is. I think the weakness of this team is still, we don't have any big personalities. We have really good guys and they like to play, but there is nobody that will challenge each other.
   "That's what a coach does. I aggravate them half the time, but they need to aggravate each other sometimes. The accountability needs to go up. And I think when we do that, that's when we see a California game, a Little Rock game at home that's kind of a gut check. We don't have that yet, but I think we'll get it. But we need to challenge each other a little more.'
   The Bears will play a doubleheader with the Sugar Bears on Sunday against Southeastern Louisiana, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Farris Center.
