UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

1/5/22 @ EKU

UCA 11-14-138=46 (0-1/5-7)
EKU 17-13-16-15=61 (1-0)

UCA/EKU:

FG%: 34% v 40%....SBs +4 made 2s
3s%: 29% v 50% ... EKU +6 made
FT%: 80% v 85%....both shot well....EKU +5 made
Rebs: 15-16/21 v 10-19/39
TOs: 26 v 20....EKU +15 POTO!!!!

TOs are way too high and directly led to the loss.... overall defense not out of line (only 61 points) but has to be better if they do not shoot better....Lucy Ibeh was 17/14 DD plus a block and two steals.....Langhi and Wright each added 6....

Next up is Lipscomb this Sat at 1pm in FC to celebrate Bruce and Sugar's birthday...Lip game tonight vs UNA postponed due to covid....season record is 0-0/5-8...45 of their losses to BYU, Utah, Colorado State, Middle Tennessee and Arizona State by an avg of 30.....best win by 7 at Eastern Illinois....other wins over Shorter, Life, LaGrange and Tenn Wesleyan...."best loss" at Belmont by 5....GO SBs!!

Nice win against Bellarmine tonight! Loved watching it on ESPN online.

One small thing. The girls don't appear to care about possessing the basketball. I watched simple turnovers happen all game. Lazy passes. Lack of effort in grabbing a pass. On and on. We also don't appear to have a true point guard. No floor leader as we have had in the past. Young team? probably. But we need a floor general.

Again, glad for the win and proud of these girls and coaches.

If anyone saw the game you saw an 18,000 seat arena. Maybe 10 fans there but the arena was NICE.

1/12/22 @ Bellarmine (Freedom Hall, Louisville)

UCA 10-8-17-20=55 (1-1/6-7)
BU 14-9-9-9=41 (0-3/3-11)

UCA/BU:

FG%: 41% v 25% ....UCA +8 made 2s
3s%: 0% v 20% ...SBs go 0-7; BU made 3
FT%: 79% v 67% ...SBs +7 made....made more than BU shot
Rebs: 14-31/45 v 16-16/32 ...good board work by both....
TOs: 21 v 17 ...way too many.....still SB +2 from line

Ibeh goes 20/10 and Langhi tally 17/13 DDs.....do that with strong defense, rebounding and FTs on the road are a good recipe for a win....

Game with North Alabama this Sat postponed...next game is at FC vs Lipscomb, tip at 1pm on next Monday....LU is 0-1/5-9...best wins over Eastern Illinois by 7....losses include BYU by 23, Utah by 49, Colorado State by 26, Belmont by 5, Middle Tennessee by 25, Murray State by 24, Arizona State by 16 and Jacksonville State by 10....Go SugarBears!!

Those don't happen if they learn to value the basketball and have purpose in their passes. It's almost like the old football movie where the kid was forced to carry the football all around campus while his friends and teammates tried to punch it out of his arms all day. If the Sugar Bears want to get to the next level they need to play purposeful basketball. Some old announcers call it disciplined ball. No lazy passes. EVERY possession is valuable. Every time we have the ball on offense we have to be able to get our best chance to score so when we run back on defense we can say "it was enough.(score or not)". I just don't see them doing that. If they are just "playing basketball" then this is all we will ever get. Yeah, I stayed at a Holiday Inn. Still cheering for them though!

Hard to argue....an old timer basketball player has told me more than once that every possession is a chance to score, if not a FG then a FT.....she means EVERY possession....she is sort of hard nose about that.....sort like a coach drilled that into her....maybe Coach should award a "game ball" (paint it some awful color) each game we have more than 10 or more TOs and like you said carry it around campus all week....Go SugarBears!!

Enjoyed the game last night.

Some strong facts though:
1. They are young. Hesitancy in the process and the plays. NO biggie. They will grow out of that.
2. We have no true point guard. No floor leader yet. 4 forwards and one center.
3. Aggression. Not there. Finesse. Yes. Jacksonville State had aggressive drives and energy all over the floor but their energy had purpose. If a play was called and one of our players ran to a spot and the ball didn't go there it blew up the whole possession. They looked lost. No improvising. But that comes with experience.


But the potential is there folks. This team can be good. Really good. Get a floor leader and one more true tall big center and UCA will be in the conference tourney no problem. These girls are talented! I'm super proud of their effort last night even though the score doesn't show it. It was tied at half and they let up for some reason. But even that will change. They played so much better now than they did earlier this year.

1/19/22 vs Jacksonville State

JSU 20-12-23-9=64 (5-0/14-3)
UCA 16-16-7-8=47 (1-3/6-9)

UCA/JSU:

FG%: 41% v 44% ... JSU +3 made 2s
3s%: 40% v 31% ... JSU +3 made 3s
FT%: 43% v 42% ... JSU +2 made...SBs only at line 7x
Rebs: 7-21/28 v 16-22/38 .... JSU +18 2nd chance.... yuck!!
TOs: 20 v 10 ... JSU +19 POTO...double yuck!!!

JSU must be pretty good to be 14-3 but being tied at 32 at half and then get whipped 32-15 which is normally the SBs game is disappointing... on the other hand, H1 scoring better than average.... giving up 64 on defense ...even with the rebounding and TO impact.....should have kept SBs in the game ... not getting to the line more is one reason...

Next game is Liberty scheduled this Sat at FC with tip at 1pm....hoping for a good crowd... a pretty tall order...Flames are 4-1/16-2 ... best wins include Ohio by 3, James Madison by 5 and Va Tech by 19....losses to Memphis by 2 and ASUN East Leader FGCU by 4.....Go SugarBears!!

1/22/22 vs Liberty

LU 24-15-20-20=79 (5-1/17-2)
UCA 8-14-15-14=51 (1-4/6-10)

https://ucasports.com/news/2022/1/22/womens-basketball-sugar-bears-drop-decision-to-liberty.aspx

UCA/LU:

FG%: 30% v 60%...LU +8 made 2s.....SBs took 10 more shots!!
3s%: 9% v 42% ... 1/11 vs 5/12
FT%: 67% v 74% ... both teams made 14
Rebs: 16-10/26 v 12-29/41 ... LU +24 PIP....SBs had no answer inside...good 0-reb work by SBs
TOs: 9 v 16...good game here

Flames had 5 in double figures and SBs had 1...inside play not up to what LU put out.....forced perimeter shooting apparently and SBs hit only 1 from 3....o-rebs, TOs and FT shooting good but nowhere near enough against a team 17-2...Randrea Wright led with 15

Next up is North Alabama on Monday at 2pm in the rescheduled game......UNA is 2-2/7-9...best wins Georgia State by 1, Chattanooga by 3, EKU by 2 and Bellarmine by 24.....losses include Kentucky by 42, Austin Peay by 16, Purdue by 33 and JSU by 4.....this is a game to win at home but nothing will be easy....Hope people will show up at 2pm to cheer them on...Go SugarBears!!

1/24/22 vs North Alabama

UNA 6-20-8-19=53 (2-3/7-10)
UCA 17-17-15-12=61 (2-4/7-10)

https://ucasports.com/news/2022/1/24/womens-basketball-tames-lions-to-capture-first-asun-home-win.aspx

UCA/UNA:

FG%: 40% v 34% ... SBs +13 made 2s
3s%: 0% v 27% ... UNA +6 made 3s... SBs 0-3
FT%: 69% v 64% ... each team made 9
Rebs: 17-31/48 v 9-23/32 ... +5 2nd chance points...great o-board work by SBs
TOs: 11 v 12 ... much better .... SBs +3 POTO

Always need to win games you should win......tough defense always helps....Langhi led with 18/15 DD.....Ibeh also a DD at 14/12.....plus 3 steals....Cody tossed in 8 and while James had only 2 points she grabbed 6 rebs....I always think of the importance of o-rebs for 2ns=d chance points but d-rebs are just as good as it keeps the opponent form another shot....UNA had 56 shots while UCA had 65....that alone may have been 5-7 points of the winning margin....

Now on the road to Jacksonville, FL for a couple of games...first vs North Florida on Thur at 4pm.....UNF is currently 2-4/9-9...best wins vs FAU by 6, College of Charleston by 10 and EKU by 14....losses include Florida State by 28, Clemson by 12, Auburn by 7, FIU by 2 and Georgia by 29......a good game can win this game...Go SugarBears!!

1/27/22@North Florida (Jacksonville)

UCA 8-13-22-13=56 (3-4/8-10)
UNF 15-18-7-13=53 (2-4/9-10)

https://ucasports.com/news/2022/1/27/womens-basketball-grounds-ospreys-with-second-half-comeback.aspx

UCA/UNF:

FG%: 35% v 37% ... SBs +2 made 2s ... SB +6 shots taken
3s%: 38% v 17% ... 3/8 v 4/23
FT%: 85% v 69% ... 11/13 vs 9/13
Rebs: 13-29/42 v 7-27/37 ... those extra rebs got SBs 6 more shots....
TOs: 15 v 16 ... SBs +6 POTO

After spotting UNF and 11-0 lead the SBs struggled early but rolled out a Q3 defensive pressure that capped a 20-point comeback...road wins often come with good FT% and good rebounding ... great job to grab a road win...Langhi led with 15/5/3S....good to see her on a roll the past few games...Wright added a 13/2/6A/1S game...Ibeh solid at 9/7as did Cody with 7/8....

Trivia on new opponent...enrollment about 17,000...Florida has over 1 million enrolled in higher ed....which school is the largest?

a. University of Florida
b. Florida State University
c. Florida International University
d. University of Central Florida

Next game noon tip vs Jacksonville on Saturday....the Dolphins are 4-2/11-6....best wins over Minnesota by3, FIU by 2 (35-33!!), Florida A&M by 21, Bellarmine by 18...also slipped by UNF by 2....losses include Florida State by 25, Presbyterian by 8, South Florida 13, Florida Gulf Coast by 19 and Liberty by 1....another chance to play well and get a road win...Go SugarBears!!

Last four games were certainly subpar....

Road loss to Jacksonville, 53-55
Home loss to #20 FGCU, 44-71...at least loss to a legit Top 20 team
Home loss to Stetson, 45-63
Road loss to KSU, 52-66.....traffic on I75 must have been a distraction....

Next up is JSU at 1:45pm on Sat ...need to play better than the first game...Go SugarBears!!

UCA@JSU, 2/12/22

UCA 13-8-11-16=48 (3-9/8-15)
JSU 14-23-22-7=66 (9-3/18-6)

https://ucasports.com/news/2022/2/12/womens-basketball-drops-decision-to-jacksonville-state.aspx

UCA/JSU:

FG%: 40% v 42%... SBs +1 made on 2s
3s%: 25% v 43%... JSU +7 made....got defend 3s better
FT%: 62% v 58%... SBs +1 made...only got to the line 13x
Rebs: 5-26/31 v 12-26/38....SBs actually +1 POTO
TO: 15 v 8... JSU +7 POTO and +16 fast break pts

JSU +11 shots taken.....reflects rebounding advantage and SB 15 TOs....Ibeh 11/5, Fowler 10/3, Langhi 6/6 and Balogun 5/6.....Q4 seemed to play pretty well...Q2/3 were a 45-19 blowout....big ask to go on road vs West Division leader by 4 games....would have liked to see better play in mid game even in a loss....

At home next week first vs Bellarmine at 7pm on Thursday....Go SugarBears!!

Bellarmine@UCA

Bell 11-11-14-22=58 (0-13/3-21)
UCA 16-9-19-21=65 (4-9/9-15)

UCA/Bell

FG%: 47% v 40% ... SBs +7 made 2s
3s%: 29% v 44% ... Bellarmine +3 made
FT%: 58% v 64% ... SBs +2 made ... missed 8
Rebs: 10-23/33 v 11-21/32 ...
TOs: 13 v 16 ... +7 POTO

4 in double figures ... welcome back (to game highlights) Lucy Ibeh with a strong 16/12 double double.... Hudspeth added 12 ... Wright and Fowler each tallied 12...Cody grabbed 5 rebs....odd that a 0-13 team nearly out rebounded us...

SugarBears have only the EKU (5-8) game on Sat at 4pm on home court ... then end up on road at North Alabama (7-6) then at Lipscomb (3-10) ... lost to each EKU and Lipscomb earlier but won over UNA ... maybe finish up 1-2 for final 5-11 ... probably no better than 8th seed.... that would be a 1st round home game....let's hope....

Go SugarBears!!