The Matt Daniel File

Matt Daniel is being reported as the the Sugar Bears next head coach.

Matt Daniel is the ultimate recruiter and coach. He brings high energy and passion to the game of basketball and is an outstanding recruiter," said Stein. "His knowledge of what it takes to be successful on and off the court was a definite factor in us bringing him to Mizzou. He is a great addition.

Missouri Head Coach Cindy Stein

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The Matt Daniel Timeline

Overtime Loss

It’s the little things that can win or lose a game sometimes. Little things like getting the ball across mid-court within ten seconds. Like taking care of the ball in crunch time. Like taking good shots and blocking out on missed shots.



Lamar did more of those little things Thursday night, and the result was an 89-86 overtime loss for the Bears.



UCA was able to fight back at the end of the second half and somehow force overtime. After seeing how things seemed to work in our favor, I had high hopes for the overtime period. The Bears even scored the first two points in OT.



Even after allowing the Cardinals to score on their fourth attempt – meaning a block shot and two offensive rebounds later – the Bears were back in the lead, 83-81 after Brain Marks made two free throws. But once again, Lamar was able to pull down two offensive rebounds on the next possession and get a put back on the third attempt.



This hadn’t been happening the entire game. In fact, UCA actually won the rebounding battle overall.

But in the last five minutes (not counting "team" rebounds), the Bears lost that battle 8-3.



Those four second-chance points and a fast break layup still weren’t enough to secure a Lamar win though. Marcus Pillow’s three-pointer with 2:28 remaining put the Bears back on top, 85-86. But the Bears missed their final four shots and committed the third 10-second penalty of the game. That allowed the Cardinals to escape with a three-point win.



The Bears shot a better percentage from the floor in the first and second halfs, but it was the 2-of-8 shooting in overtime that hurt.



Brian Marks played what might have been his best game as a Bear. He finished with eight points, on 3-of-4 shooting, and 16 rebounds.



UCA’s starting guards – Nate Bowie, Marcus Pillow and York Sims – combined for 59 points and were able to penetrate for layups throughout the game. I really believe we had a quickness advantage with our guards. Those three had quite a few of the 46 points in the paint.



But as coach told Monty after the game, the team made "a million good plays", but they also had "a million bad ones."



The 20 turnovers were costly. Those three possessions where the ball never crossed half court (sounds like I’m just rewriting the Sugar Bears’ story from last week) might have been the difference in the game. And let me be clear in that two of those turnovers weren’t caused by pressure defense, it was just a mental lapse both times. (The middle 10-second call was after Marks grabbed a rebound and couldn’t find a guard. When he finally did, there were only a few more seconds to get it across. Probably still could have done it if they had an idea the clock was so close, but it was more acceptable I guess.)



The offensive talent is there. The defensive and mental talent is sometimes lacking. But if you want to look at the bright side – and I usually try to – all of this is being done with two key players (Reuter and Nevels) on the bench with injuries.



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Good start, bad finish

I’m not a fan of cliches, but I find myself using them alot. This was the tale of two halves, and the second was the deciding factor as UTSA beat the Sugar Bears 76-49 on Thursday night in the Farris Center.



After leading 38-34 at haltime, the Sugar Bears were then outscored 42-11 in the second period.



I talked to a few people that have seen this team play throughout the year, and they all agreed that the first half was the best half of basketball they had played all season.



Well, this team has had some bad halves as well, and the second half might have been one of the worst of the year.



The Sugar Bears were leading in points, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, blocks and had fewer turnovers after the first half. Jamye Adair and Laura Beth Anderson each were in double-figures by the break, and three other Sugar Bears had five points apiece.



But it was the start of the second half that just totally ended any hope the Sugar Bears had.



Here’s a list of things that happened before UCA scored its first point of the half:

• UTSA scored 14 points.
• UCA committed five turnovers.
• UCA attempted just a single shot.
• Four UTSA players had scored a point.
• One UTSA player, Terrie Davis, made three 3-pointers.
• 3:46 had ticked off the clock.

To make it worse, I could compile a similar list of what happened before the next made UCA field goal. And by that time, even after Anderson’s second three of the night, they were down 14.



UCA only committed eight turnovers in the first two minutes. The second half saw 13 Sugar Bear turnovers which resulted in 20 Roadrunner points.



It was hard to watch, and I certainly felt bad for the ladies after the effort they showed in the first half. But once things started going badly in the second half, they just totally spiralled out of control, and there was no stopping it.



I’ve already told you that Anderson and Adair had double-figures in the first half. Well, no one joined them during the remainder of the game. And they combined for just four points in the second.



The Sugar Bears have to get over this loss quickly as they play against Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Saturday. The Islanders come into Conway with a 2-0 conference mark. Game time is at 6:00.

Bears’ bad shooting leads to loss

Marcus Pillow hits a three to cut the deficit to two with 18 seconds remaining.

The Bears couldn’t buy a three-pointer, and it seemed that the Bobcats couldn’t miss one.

When Marcus Pillow finally hit the Bears’ second three of the night to cut the lead to two with :18 left, Texas State responded by making all four free throw attempts down the stretch to pull out the 78-72 win in the Farris Center on Saturday.

The Bobcats’ Brandon Bush, just a 68 percent free throw entering the game, was 10-of-12 from the line and had a game-high 21 points.

The Bears got behind 29-28 with 2:57 left in the first half and never could get back to even, much less the lead. And the full court press that the Bobcats used caused too many errant passes and helped contribute to the total of 22 turnovers. It was disappointing to see several possessions end before the ball crossed half court.

Adding to the struggles was the foul trouble that York Sims was in throughout the night. He did a good job of not picking up his fifth until late in the game when the Bears were forced to foul to stop the clock. The other side of the story is that he wouldn’t have had to foul if he could have made the two free throws that would have cut the lead to two before PIllow’s made three pointer.

Free throw shooting was another woe for UCA, just 62.5%. When you add that to the poor three-point shooting percentage (10.5%) and turnover margin (-6), you get this loss. Maybe the most amazing thing was how close it was in the end.

UCA’s two starting guards, Nate Bowie and Marcus Pillow, finished with 27 points but only shot 9-of-29 from the field, 31%. And they were an abysmal 2-for-15 from 3-point range.

Durrell Nevels, a post player, seemed to have the best touch of any UCA player with the jump shot. He finished with a team-high 20 points and 13 rebounds. He and fellow frontcourt mate Brian Marks both finished with double-digit rebounds, helping the Bears to a one-rebound edge, but it was the aforementioned outside shooting of Texas State that was responsible for all the points. The Bobcats finished at 44.4% from outside, making six more shots in one fewer attempt.

Both teams leave the game 1-1 in Southland Conference play. The Bears return to the court on the road at Texas-San Antonio next Thursday. The game will be aired on Fox Sports Southwest and can be seen by those attending the Sugar Bears game on a screen in the Farris Center.