UCAFANS.COM | GO UCA BEARS!

After sputtering at home and kicking better into gear on the road, University of Central Arkansas men’s basketball coach Corliss Williamson intends to have his Bears finish with a full-throttle effort.

Both UCA’s Bears and Sugar Bears have a bye Wednesday before playing Sam Houston State on Saturday. The men will host the Bearkats, while the women will play in Huntsville, Texas.

“We can finish our last five games with pride, play it out and finish the right way,” said Williamson, whose team is 5-19, 1-10 in his first season and is out of postseason contention. “We need to play for something bigger than ourselves and that’s a tradition of excellence. We want to make sure we establish that we are gonna play hard every time, complete and play the game the right way.”

In Wednesday’s game against Texas State, Williamson was encouraged by a crowd of about 900 (including many students) that came out of a snowy evening to see the Bears lose to the Bobcats.

“I was happy to see that many fans, but I was not happy about our effort,” Williamson said at Monday’s weekly Bearbackers luncheon. “We approached the game in the wrong manner, we played soft. We did not have the effort and energy we are accustomed to. I told the players that when people come out and support us in weather like that, we have to have our A game.”

As a result, the UCA coaches shook up the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against McNeese, starting the five players they thought gave the greatest effort at the end of the Texas State game. That included little-used walk-on Shaquan McClendon.

“We wanted to get our guys’ attention that regardless of where we are record-wise and regardless of where we are in the season, we’re gonna give it our all,” Williamson said.

The Bears lost to McNeese 81-67 in Lake Charles, La.

“But the effort came back and I was pleased with that,” Williamson said.