Arkansas Little Rock (1/26/13)

[CMJ]

UALR 62

NT 57

Final

[RBTX]

I think I have it figured out! Benford is going for the, "You can't beat a team three times in a season" mentality.

[Andrew]

I think I have it figured out! Benford is going for the, "You can't beat a team three times in a season" mentality.

Lol that's pretty funny. But hey if it works and gets us though hot springs! Tonight's game was hard fought but we did not have enough gas at the end. We will slowly heal by hot springs and be more prepared.

[Greendylan]

Lol that's pretty funny. But hey if it works and gets us though hot springs! Tonight's game was hard fought but we did not have enough gas at the end. We will slowly heal by hot springs and be more prepared.

Sadly, I think it's too late at this point. Even if we get back to full strength, we will have too low of a seed to have even a remote chance in Hot Springs.

[Andrew]

Sadly, I think it's too late at this point. Even if we get back to full strength, we will have too low of a seed to have even a remote chance in Hot Springs.

Anything impossible in hot springs! Though the low seed in the big dance will not be fun.... I will be happy to make it though

[THOR]

Franklin was awesome as always tonight...that dude is a player...need many more of him! Only have three players that really scored hurts...refs weren't great...could have won this game...

[curtisdaa]

Three of the four players that scored tonight will not be back next year. I need more tequila.

[Andrew]

Three of the four players that scored tonight will not be back next year. I need more tequila.

We will have Jordan, Chris, Alzee, PJ,Walton, TJ, Keit.... Well we will have those other guys..

[helix]

Big three things that I thought hurt us:

1. Poor free throw shooting. Yes UALR had a worse percentage, but with how our offense was going, we really needed those points.

2. Not putting up shots quickly enough towards the end. Seemed like the team was just looking for a perfect shot which led to crucial seconds coming off the clock.

3. THE REFS. Really hated the refs this game. Horrible phantom foot-out-of-bounds calls on top of quite a few others.

This was probably the most frustrating loss imo, because we still had a bit of a shot at the end. Plus the game should have been a little bit closer throughout. Well, onto the next game.

[calvin]

Lol that's pretty funny. But hey if it works and gets us though hot springs! Tonight's game was hard fought but we did not have enough gas at the end. We will slowly heal by hot springs and be more prepared.

Skiver I need some of that stuff that you are drinking. We are bad. We don't hedge on ball screens, we give up layups and wide open 3's, we don't get anything going on offense, we have a point guard that won't shoot. No way we make noise in Hot Springs. What an awful season. We finally got to where the students were coming the last few years especially last year and there were no students tonight.

[Christopher Walker]

We will have Jordan, Chris, Alzee, PJ,Walton, TJ, Keit.... Well we will have those other guys..

Andrew Skiver Whoever you are...

Edited January 27, 2013 by Christopher Walker

[GrandGreen]

The best way to endure this season, is forget all the pre-season hype, that Mitchell was ever considered a big time NBA prospect and the last 6 years under JJ ever happened.

This is just a struggling outmanned NT team that hopefully may get better.

[angel1972]

Jordan and Roger had a good game offensively and then ran out of gas. Poor PJ I think his problem is hes too short to see over all those tall players. It seems when 1or 2 players are on fire the rest of the team sucks. Something is really off balance ....maybe no leadership. I still have hope.I will be in hot springs to see us get to the ncaa

[eulessismore]

Well, I attended my first basketball game of the season tonight. I still hold to my one theory in basketball that held true in the only organized basketball game in which I played (and scored the only 6, yes 6 points that our entire team scored): become proficient at the outside jump shot. Yes, all the coaches I've ever experienced, even back then, wanted to emphasize ball handling, but...

Edited January 27, 2013 by eulessismore

[foutsrouts]

Three good things I saw tonight: the jump ropers were awesome, someone finally caught the chicken on the first attempt, and a blind guy made a layup. That is all.

[oldguystudent]

1. Poor free throw shooting. Yes UALR had a worse percentage, but with how our offense was going, we really needed those points.

I have been making the free throw argument for twenty years. As a long suffering fan of crappy basketball, I started going back and looking at margin of victory vs. missed free throws, and nearly every time, had the losing team made just, say 50% of the missed shots, they would have won the game. But, since I don't know anything else about basketball, I've suffered the ridicule of other fans telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about.

If I coached basketball (which I don't and never, ever should), I wouldn't let my players run plays in practice until each one of them could consistently land ten free throws in a row.

[Andrew]

Skiver I need some of that stuff that you are drinking. We are bad. We don't hedge on ball screens, we give up layups and wide open 3's, we don't get anything going on offense, we have a point guard that won't shoot. No way we make noise in Hot Springs. What an awful season. We finally got to where the students were coming the last few years especially last year and there were no students tonight.

It's called confidence. Maybe you should try it. I hope our coaches and players haves little more heart then you. I just prefer to never give up. You realize even if we hedge we would still be giving up uncontested lay ups and threes. You leave the screen setter open for a split second he cuts and if you slide down on him often times you will leave a 3 point shooter open. Hedging is great but sometimes it back fires. Especially when a team has a lot of height miss matches or great 3 point shooters. Anyway... I agree there were a few plays in the second half we should have Hedged and did not. Instead we went under the screen and gave the shooter space. It is always easier said then done when it comes to stopping a team from scoring. Let's just continue to cheer this team on and see what happens when we get some depth back.

Also could we get Colman on that jump rope team. He really needs some footwork in the post. He is so stiff. Maybe jumping rope will loosen him up.

Edited January 27, 2013 by Andrew

[calvin]

It's called confidence. Maybe you should try it. I hope our coaches and players haves little more heart then you.

It's called keeping it real. We are 8-14.

Does anybody know where Chris Jones has been? Why isn't he on the bench?

[Andrew]

It's called keeping it real. We are 8-14.

Does anybody know where Chris Jones has been? Why isn't he on the bench?

He sits right by Walton. He wears the Nike hat. Benford talks to him often times before he meets with the team before a time out. He is learning a lot and should be back by hot springs. (I believe)

[helix]

I have been making the free throw argument for twenty years. As a long suffering fan of crappy basketball, I started going back and looking at margin of victory vs. missed free throws, and nearly every time, had the losing team made just, say 50% of the missed shots, they would have won the game. But, since I don't know anything else about basketball, I've suffered the ridicule of other fans telling me that I don't know what I'm talking about.

If I coached basketball (which I don't and never, ever should), I wouldn't let my players run plays in practice until each one of them could consistently land ten free throws in a row.

I definitely agree with you that free throw shooting is a huge part of the game. It seems like these days, even when more fouls seem to be called than ever, that free throw shooting has fallen by the wayside. If you are a guard, and you are shooting less than 80 percent from the field, you need to be working on free throw shooting (maybe something similar to what you are talking about in practice). Forwards probably should be shooting 75 percent at least, and Centers, though it may sound unrealistic, should be shooting about 70 or better. Honestly, I know big men have certain jobs that they have to do, but I think free throw shooting should be towards the top of the list. They are the ones nearest the basket and are normally surrounded by 2-3 players, so someone is bound to foul him.

I hope Benford starts putting an emphasis on free throw shooting for the team, because down the stretch, their shooting was a disgrace.

[Andrew]

I definitely agree with you that free throw shooting is a huge part of the game. It seems like these days, even when more fouls seem to be called than ever, that free throw shooting has fallen by the wayside. If you are a guard, and you are shooting less than 80 percent from the field, you need to be working on free throw shooting (maybe something similar to what you are talking about in practice). Forwards probably should be shooting 75 percent at least, and Centers, though it may sound unrealistic, should be shooting about 70 or better. Honestly, I know big men have certain jobs that they have to do, but I think free throw shooting should be towards the top of the list. They are the ones nearest the basket and are normally surrounded by 2-3 players, so someone is bound to foul him.

I hope Benford starts putting an emphasis on free throw shooting for the team, because down the stretch, their shooting was a disgrace.

Are we not the best free throw shooting team in the belt?

[helix]

Are we not the best free throw shooting team in the belt?

Barely. And that still ranks us only tied for 84th in the nation. We also only have 3 players that are shooting over 75 percent from the line. We need to improve. That way when we are trying to claw and fight back into games, we can get as many points as possible.

Just because the belt is abysmal from the line, doesn't mean we should hold ourselves to that same standard.

[Andrew]

Barely. And that still ranks us only tied for 84th in the nation. We also only have 3 players that are shooting over 75 percent from the line. We need to improve. That way when we are trying to claw and fight back into games, we can get as many points as possible.

Just because the belt is abysmal from the line, doesn't mean we should hold ourselves to that same standard.

I never said we should not. I just feel like often times we are much better at FT's then people think.

[Andrew]

FYI that is still in the top 25% in the nation. Not sure if that is abysmal.

[helix]

I never said we should not. I just feel like often times we are much better at FT's then people think.

I can understand that. I honestly didn't know we were the best in the belt. It is just painful to see situations like last night, where a few missed free throws killed some momentum that we were building, which could have led to a comeback.

About the top 25% thing, we need to be close to top 15% imo. The main reason being is that our half court offense and shooting in general are not doing well right now. They are improving from the beginning of the season, but we need to earn the easy points at the line through aggressively attacking the basket and getting an and-1. That is probably the big reason that I feel free throw shooting will help this team a lot.