UCA, Arkansas should continue in-state games moving forward

Regular Hogs- Bears tilt could build interest at rivalry between Arkansas programs

Guest Commentary Heading into the weekend, I was hoping that the Central Arkansas, University of Arkansas basketball games would not result in someone saying, “This is why we don’t play these games.”

Instead, I was hoping that there would be praises from the two universities and games like this could be an annual thing across all sports.

I’ve advocated for in-state competition and I will continue to do so because I think it is good for not only the competition, but for the state as a whole.

While I haven’t read or seen anything negative about the two games (I haven’t really been looking), I think we can absolutely say that the men’s game was entertaining, whereas the women’s game was pretty much won within the first few minutes.

I could be completely wrong in this statement, but I feel the women’s college game has a huge talent gap.

I feel this way because women’s college basketball seems to have the same few teams dominating the sport.

Sunday showed that the No. 13 University of Arkansas women are undoubtedly on another level than the Central Arkansas Sugar Bears in its 105-58 win over UCA.

Like it had done against Kansas State eight days earlier, UCA struggled mightily from the field, failing to register a made field goal in the first quarter on 14 attempts.

If not for a pair of made free throws by senior guard/forward Brianna Trigg, the Sugar Bears would have not scored in the first quarter, while the Lady ‘Backs lit up the scoreboard, shooting 61.1 percent from the field on 18 attempts.

The second quarter saw more production for UCA as it converted 4 of 12 field goals, but it was facing a mighty uphill battle as Arkansas scored 30 points in the quarter to the Sugar Bears’ 10.

At halftime, the Lady

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‘Backs led 54-12.

The barrage of made field goals by Arkansas caused UCA coach Sandra Rushing to use all but one timeout before halftime.

Rushing must have lit a fire into her team because it came out and had a largely productive second half.

And, it was made possible by Rushing’s bench as Trigg played the most minutes by a starter with 19.

Senior guard Tori Lasker had 11, while junior guard Romola Dominguez, and seniors Savannah Walker and Hannah Langhi registered just seven minutes.

In the second half, the Sugar Bears shot a combined 17 of 29 from the field and put up 46 points, outscoring the Lady ‘Backs 21-18 in the fourth quarter.

Albeit, most of UCA’s damage came against the Arkansas reserves, but it likely built some confidence within the Sugar Bears heading into another in-state matchup Wednesday against Little Rock.

Redshirt freshman Jalisa Outlaw led the Sugar Bears for the second time in three games with 22 points off the bench.

Sophomore guard Charlay Conway followed with 10 points.

Meanwhile, Arkansas had four in double figures, with senior guard Chelsea Dungee leading the way with 26, followed by senior guard Destiny Slocum adding 22, senior guard Jailyn Mason scoring 16 and senior guard Amber Ramirez finishing with 14.

A day earlier gave a much more entertaining game and likely a reason for fans of both teams to want more games played between the two schools.

The Arkansas men’s talent did overshadow UCA in a 100-75 win, but it was much more competitive.

At least in the first half, as the Bears led the game for the first 10 minutes with the lead getting as high as 10 with 11:12 left in the first half.

However, the wheels started coming off and the Razorbacks took the lead within three minutes of the 10-minute mark and never looked back as both teams entered halftime with Arkansas leading 41-35.

“We played really well for the first 10 or 12 minutes of the game and kind of limped into halftime after that,” UCA coach Anthony Boone said.

In the second half, the Razorbacks pushed their lead out to 10 or more with the Bears getting it under double digits a handful of times, but Arkansas eventually ran away with the game.

Boone credits that to UCA not operating as it had in the first half.

“The second half, we never got into a rhythm,” he said.

“We stopped doing what we did in the first half to get us a lead. Our defense was pretty good starting out and we just played flat from then on. We did rebound well and I was proud of the guys for that.

Our defense fell flat. Our transition defense was awful, especially in the second half. Our half court defense wasn’t as good. We weren’t tough enough in the second half.”

The defensive lapses showed up on the stat sheet as Arkansas hit from 60.5 percent from the field in the second half, compared to 44.7 percent in the first half.

However, there were positives for UCA. The Bears outrebounded the Hogs, as they have done in their first four games and UCA turned the ball over fewer times than it had through the first four games.

Senior forward Jared Chatham had an efficient shooting night as he hit 5 of 9 for 10 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

Senior guards Rylan Bergersen and DeAndre Jones each recorded 13 points, while junior forward SK Shittu reached double figures with 11 points.

Arkansas had five in double figures as junior guard JD Notae led things with 22 points, while junior guard Desi Sills and graduate Jalen Tate finished with 17, freshman guard Moses Moody scored 15 and graduate Justin Smith added 12. So, while the games may not have gone the UCA faithful way, I truly feel like these games should be an annual event.

The women’s game may not be as competitive because of the skill gap, but it should be fun to see these two teams play, which it was.

Andy Robertson is the sports editor of the Log Cabin Democrat and can be reached at arobert-son@ thecabin. net.