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UALR toppled by Tulsa
JEFFREY SLATTON ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
TULSA — UALR fell short on national television Tuesday, but the Trojans are returning home feeling like they’ve improved. UALR played sound defensively most of the game but couldn’t match that performance on the offensive end in a 59-45 loss to Tulsa before 5,560 and an ESPN audience at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Junior guard Solomon Bozeman had 17 points to lead UALR, but the Trojans shot 33 percent from the field. To make matters worse, the majority of UALR’s 16 turnovers were unforced and came well outside the lane. “That’s the thorn in our foot right now,” Shields said of the unforced turnovers. “We had 22 turnovers against Ole Miss and so many are unforced. Those defensive stops are too hard to come by against a team like Tulsa.” Tulsa (3-0), the preseason pick to win Conference USA, took advantage of a big performance from Wooden Award candidate Jerome Jordan, who had 19 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. The Wooden Award is given annually to college basketball’s “most outstanding” player. “When you’ve got a guy like Jerome, you’ve got to spend so much more of your effort, energy and focus on collapsing down on him to try and keep him from going for 30 or 35 points,”
Shields said. “It opens up other areas. I have to give credit to Tulsa. They are very disciplined on the offensive end, and they make it very difficult on the defensive end.” Tulsa has held all three of its opponents this season to fewer than 50 points. “It wasn’t pretty offensively,” Tulsa Coach Doug Wojcik said. “But the guys hung in there. Defense was really good. Tough team, very good defensively. I’ll take the win.” After UALR (0-2) lost its exhibition game against NCAA Division II Harding and gave up 92 points in a season-opening loss to Ole Miss, Shields hoped to see defensive improvement Tuesday afternoon. The Trojans held Tulsa to 42 percent from the field and 17 percent from three-point range. “I feel like we’re getting better each and every game,” Bozeman said. “Ole Miss, we got better rebounding. This game, we got better on defense. Next few games, we need to try to bring it all together and get better at the offensive end.” Bozeman also took preseason All-Conference USA guard Ben Uzoh largely out of the game. Uzoh made 4 of 14 field-goal attempts and finished with 9 points. “I thought he did a nice job,” Shields said. “Uzoh is a phenomenal player. He’s a big, strong physical guard. And I think Solomon did a good job of containing him.” Jordan was unstoppable early, scoring Tulsa’s first seven points and drawing two quick fouls from UALR senior Wayne Burton. UALR’s defense kept it in the game early, and a threepointer by junior Matt Mouzy, who was 1 for 5 from beyond the arc, cut the lead to 19-15. UALR trailed 25-20 at halftime after junior forward Derrick Bails hit a 15-footer with 28 seconds left. Tulsa forced a UALR timeout with 16:27 left in the game after Bozeman couldn’t get around a curl screen. When Bails stepped up to cut off Uzoh, the ball went to Joe Richard for a dunk and a 31-20 lead. “I knew we had to get off to a good start in the second half, and we were slow getting started,” Shields said. “They threw the first punch and we didn’t respond from that very well.” After falling behind by 14 points, UALR cut the lead back to nine after consecutive threepointers by Bozeman, the second coming from about 30 feet with 7:43 left. UALR then turned it over on consecutive possessions with an opportunity to further trim the lead. The first came when sophomore Courtney Jackson lost the ball inside, and the second came when Bozeman got picked by Uzoh. At the other end, Tulsa’s Justin Hurtt hit a jump shot over Mouzy for a 44-33 lead. UALR got the lead under nine only one more time on two free throws by Bozeman. But Jordan passed out of a double team to Bryson Pope for an easy basket and, after a Bozeman turnover, Hurtt scored on a layup for a 48-35 lead. Tulsa’s largest lead was 19 points with 41 seconds left.