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Tip at 4pm


Lions now 2-9/0-1 and 2-1 at home.

ORU spanked SELA 86-72 in SLC Game 1 as Lions fell behind 54-33 at half.

Only wins at Louisiana College and Spring Hill......pretty tough schedule on road with losses to Wisconsin, Marquette (by 11) , New Mexico State, La Tech, SEMO (by 3), North Texas (only by 5), ULM and Florida plus ORU. Record is somewhat deceiving.

Sagarin has SELA at #316 and UCA at #263...Bears have 1-2 point plus margin....however, SELA has #6 SOS in all of D1 and UCA is SOS 243....

Not good shooting so far but that reflects schedule....37% FGs, 26% 3s and 61% FTs....holds their own in rebs at 37 v 38....moderate TOs at 14...

Brandon Fortenberry leads in scoring at 11-12 but shoots only 36% FGs...Jeffery Ricard shoots 83% FTs (24 pts vs UNT) and avgs 9-10 ppg....Roosevelt Johnson adds another 9-10 ppg and 8 rebs....

HALF

UCA leads 41-33...Bears shot lights out with 62% FGs including 70% from 3.....still TOs need more work as Bears have 9 vs SELA's 3.....

Garner leads Bears with 12/3 with 4/4 from 3.....Oliver Wells has 8 with 2/2 from 3 adn harks has 6....

Won Q2 by 17-11...solid work so far...more to do but good start....

Bears led 24-22 at 9:50 mark....

Down 55-54 with 7 minutes left... They are on a 14-2 run. We have to figure out how not to go on these 2nd half droughts.

Bears led 53-48 at 10:06 mark......Lions won Q3 by 15-12 then SELA goes 3-14 the first five minutes of Q4.....shooting dropped off sharply...no 3s and FGS down to 44%....plus 8 TOs in H2.....not out of it yet but getting late fast....

FINAL

http://www.ucasports.com/news/2013/1/5/MBB_0105130634.aspx

UCA 41+27=68 (5-7/0-2)
SELA 33+39=72 (3-9/1-1)

Bears fall behind late then claw back to 68-70 but could not hit a shot at the end. Another hard road loss by 4 that was one to win.

UCA v SELA

FGs: 45% v 42%
3s: 50% v 40%
FTs: 53% v 68%
Rebs: 41 v 32
TOs: 18 v 5

Shooting was really not the problem overall although 31% in H2 was not good........they gave SELA too many points off TOs adn Bears only made 9/17 FTs...could have won the game at the line not to mention handling ball better.

Harks: 17/3
Crawford: 15/7
Garner:: 14/9

The TOs have to improve to start winning. Bears seem to be much better shooting and rebounding this season and on the cusp of putting it together.

We are looking at last place again if this team does not dig deep and find a way to finish games.

It really is hard to imagine how far the BB program has fallen
Since the move to division 1. Other sports have flourished
(Football,volleyball,women's BB). Baseball and softball
Have made steady progress.

Anyone got a good theory on why this is?
Do they miss Miles that much?

I think the team misses Q a lot. He is a 14-15 ppg player able to get some rebs and make some assists. We are just not deep enough yet to lose a top player and still win many D1 games. With Q I think we would have won 3 of last 4 games.

Winning on the road is never easy in a reasonably well matched game.

The SugarBears had their problems adjusting as well and Matt came at the right time and got Herbert who was overlooked coming out of high school. I fear we do not really appreciate how good Herbert is, not just as a DD go-to player but also as a team leader who helps gets the best out of others. The SB team I saw play last year was very good as a unit.

Granted I have not seen the Bears play in person this season and TV just cannot do justice to the little things on the court. The team seems to have some talented players and some off the bench depth to give starters a break. I think I read where Bears are somethiing like 25th best in D1 shooting 3s. We have been in just about every game no matter who we were playing which is definitedly a step forward. Somehow the team has to learn pretty quickly how to close games out and have a good lead going into the last 3-4 minutes rather than being 8-10 back and have to play furiously to make 3s and steals without fouling. A decent FT shooting team can almost win down the stretch.

Coach has to keep adding this level talent each year and get to having a Roger Crwaford and Q level guy at every position on the court.

Turnovers kill us again. This has nothing to do with Q not being out there. This is just sloppy play again and again on our part. 9 for 17 on free throws doesn't cut it either.

Hate to say it but if they don't start winning some games coach might not be around long enough to add this level talent next year.

How sad it is that I want to be mediocre in division I basketball...that level would be such a welcome level right now. Sigh. I grew up watching the Bears make it to the national championship level in the NAIA and do very well at the Division II level. Mediocre right now would mean we are a work in progress that is actually showing some progress.

I'm not trying to knock ANY coach because I'm not one and I'm sure its more than just showing up and playing...and I can imagine if us fans are ready for some level of success than coach C is more hungry than all of us combined...but I sure am ready.

By the way, thanks coach C. for all your work. Keep it up. We'll be there to support you and the players.

I attended both games last week. At Nicholls we got down to many and we just were not able to make up the difference before the buzzer sounded. At SELA we had the lead but SELA started to hit the 3's. We certainly had to many turnovers and that needs to be corrected. One thing I noticed in both games is that the coaches didn't quit coaching and the team never quit. I felt like the team thought they could win these games and they seemed disappointed that they did not. I like others on this forum would love to see more wins but if that doesn't happen it won't be due to a lack of effort from the team or the coaching staff. With all that being said let's go beat SFA and Northwestern this week. Go BEARS!!!

Amen re going after SFA and NWS...I think they are just a good dose of confidence away from putting it together.