LU Cagers Look For Continued Road Success At UCA

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Cards swept the season series a year ago

Jan. 23, 2008

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Winners of seven of its last 10 - but 0-6 on the road, Lamar travels to Central Arkansas for a 7 p.m. game. Lamar is 0-6 on the road this year and has lost eight-consecutive dating back to its last visit to Conway, where it came away with a 66-62 victory.

Lamar-Central Arkansas Series History

This will be the third meeting between Lamar and UCA. Lamar won both games last year, taking a 62-50 decision in Beaumont on Jan. 18, and a then holding off a late UCA rally for a 66-62 win in Conway a month later.

Scouting Central Arkansas

Central Arkansas enters the week with an 11-7 overall record and a 1-3 mark in Southland Conference play. After opening the season with a loss at Kentucky, the Bears won eight-consecutive games. But since defeating Idaho on Dec. 5, UCA has gone 3-6 and is riding a three-game losing streak after defeating UTA 70-68 in the SLC opener.

Senior G Nate Bowie (15.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 3.7 apg, 2.1 spg) is one of four players who are averaging at least 10 points per game and leads the SLC with five 20-point games on the season. Sophomore G Marcus Pillow averages 13.6 ppg and lead the Bears in 3-point shooting (47-132, .356) and FT pct (.817). Senior F Durrell Nevels is the team's leader inside (10.7 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 33 blocks) but has missed the last two games with a foot injury.

As a team, UCA averages 68.8 ppg on 41.5 percent shooting. The Bears rank second in the SLC in FT pct (69.8) and blocked shots (5.44 bpg and 98 total).

Cards Turning Into A Second-Half Team

While head coach Steve Roccaforte has preached to his players that they need to play 40 minutes every game, it might be comforting to the second-year coach to know that his halftime adjustments and encouraging words are having a positive effect on his troops. In the last four games, Lamar has shot 42 percent from the floor and 31 percent from outside in the first half, compared to 55 percent and 44 percent from those locations in the second half. The Cardinals are also averaging 14 more points (44.8 to 31.8) in the second 20-minute period than the first.

Big Red's 92.6% FT Effort Second-Highest In The Southland This Season

In the span of 48 hours, Lamar went from converting 60 percent (second lowest all year) of its free throw attempts on Thursday at SFA to making a season-high 92.6 percent on 25-of-27 in the 93-90 overtime win over Sam Houston State. Aside from 3-for-3 and 7-for-7 efforts by McNeese State and Northwestern State, that figure is the second-highest in the SLC this year.

Sanders' .658 FG Pct Ranks Fifth In The Nation... Sort Of

Senior F Lamar Sanders leads the Southland in FG pct with a .658 clip (he also is shooting .800 in 3 SLC games). While his season figures of 79-for-120 register with the SLC leaders, he is just one made basket shy of qualifying for the NCAA Division I leaders list (min. 5 made per game) - of which he would rank fifth entering the UCA contest.

Barrow Goes For 53 In Last Four Games

In the last few weeks, senior G Matthew Barrow has started to get the shooting stroke back that saw him make 85 3-pointers in his first two seasons at Lamar. He has posted four double-figure scoring games in the last five, including back-to-back season-high 14-point efforts last week in games he started in place of the injured Brandon McThay. In the last five games he has averaged 12.8 points and made 10-of-30 (.333) shots from outside. For his career, he now has 109 3-pointers and is currently 17 away from cracking the Lamar career top-10 list.

Sanders Named SLC Player of the Week

The senior from Hickory Flat, Miss., was named the Southland Conference Player of the Week last week after leading Lamar to a pair of victories while averaging 16.5 points (on 15-of-19 shooting for a .789 FG pct.) and 6.5 boards. He posted a season-high 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with five rebounds, four assists and four steals in the come-from-behind win over Utah Valley State and was a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor against UTSA in the conference-opener as he finished with 15 points, a team-high eight rebounds and a pair of steals. This marks the second time in his two-year career at Lamar that he has earned the honor. he shared POW plaudits with Kevin Menifee of A&M-CC the last week of the regular-season a year ago.

Cardinal Glass Cleaning Company

One reason for the improved play over the last few weeks has been Lamar's ability to attack the offensive glass and get second-chance opportunities. On the year, the Cardinals are sixth in the SLC with 13.0 offensive rebounds per game, but over the past nine contests are pulling down 13.2 a night. In the last six games, Lamar has outscored its opponents 68-32 in second-chance points.

The Magic Number is... 70

Lamar is 7-4 this season when scoring at least 70 points and 7-2 when holding its opponents under 70. The Cardinals are now 21-7 in two seasons under coach Steve Roccaforte when reaching the 70-point plateau.

Lamar In The NCAA Rankings

Lamar enters the UCA contest ranked in the top 60 in three categories: scoring offense-28th, assists per game-38th and steals per game-30th. Additionally, Kenny Dawkins ranks 26th in free throw percentage at 86.3 pct..

Close Ones

The Cardinals have lost eight games this season but four have been especially agonizing for the LU faithful. In losses to Wyoming (75-71), Oral Roberts (65-57) and at Northern Illinois (65-63), Lamar was unable to maintain second-half leads in each contest. LU led Wyoming by 12 with 18:03 left and by 5 with 5:36 left; five days later against ORU the Cards had an 11-point lead in the first half and led 49-48 with 7:41 to play before being surrendering 11-consecutive points over the next 3:41; and after taking a 13-point lead on NIU with 16:54 remaining, LU was outscored 29-14 the rest of the way as the Huskies second-chance tip-in at the buzzer proved to be the difference. The Cardinals nearly pulled off a big upset last Tuesday at Texas Tech when the game was tied at 77 with 1:20 to play. But following a pair of Tech free throws with 22.5 seconds to play, Brandon McThay's 3-point attempt rimmed out as time expired.

Forcing Turnovers

The Cardinals' defense has done a very good job in forcing turnovers this season. Lamar has forced 278 turnovers while committing 226 miscues. LU is first in the SLC with a 4.07 turnover margin. The Cardinals have forced their opponents into at least 20 turnovers eight times this season, including six of the last nine. Rice, Lyon College, Louisiana College and LeTourneau all committed more turnovers than field goals made.

Another 14-Point Comeback Win

Lamar now has a pair of 14-point come-from-behind victories to its credit this season. On Saturday the Cardinals trailed Sam Houston State by 14 late in the first half and rallied to win in overtime 93-90. The same thing happened three games earlier in LU's final non-conference contest against Utah Valley State. Both occurrances marked the largest margin overcome to win a game under second-year coach Steve Roccaforte.Since the 1999-2000 season, they are tied for the sixth-largest deficit a Lamar team has come back from and won the game.

Triple Double-Double Sets School Record

When Darren Hopkins, Justin Nabors and Lamar Sanders each posted a double-double in the win over Lyon College (12/29), the trio combined to make school history when the trio became the first group of Lamar players to post three double-doubles in the same game.

The Season of Giving... and Keeping

Over the last 10 games, Lamar has averaged 18.9 assists per game, compared to just over 12 apg during the first six games. In fact, the Cardinals have assisted on 61 percent of their field goals over the stretch. They have also done a better job of taking care of the basketball, turning it over 15.2 times - well below the 17.7 early on in the season. In fact, LU's turnover margin has gone from +1.5 to +4.9 and sits at +3.6 on the season, which leads the Southland Conference.

Sharing The Rock - 75% of the Time

In the win over Lyon College (12/29), Lamar assisted on 28 of its 40 baskets for a 70 percent rate - a season high. That is until Tuesday when the Cardinals dished out 21 assists on 28 buckets for a new season-high of 75 percent. Other top assists-to-field goals made ratios included: 62.5% (15a to 24 fg) vs. Wyoming and 60.9 (14a to 23 fg) vs. Rice.

Lamar With Three In SLC Top 15 In 3-Pointers

Lamar is the only school in the SLC with three players ranking in the top 15 in 3-point field goal percentage. Currye Todd ranks first at 47.6%, Brandon McThay is fourth at 46.2 percent and Kenny Dawkins is rated sixth at 41.0%. As a team, the Cardinals rank first at 36.2% and second in 3-pointers made per game at 7.93.

More On The 3-Ball

Since Steve Roccaforte took over at Lamar last season, the Cardinals have made 384 total 3-pointers for an average of 8.0 per game. In those 48 games, LU has made at least 10 treys 16 times, including five this year. The season-high 16 made against Louisiana College on Dec. 8 are tied for the third-most in school history, 13th-most in the NCAA in 2007-08 and the second-most in the SLC this season. Only once in the past two seasons have the Cardinals failed to make less than four in a game (vs. NSU in the 2007 SLC Tournament).

Double-Double Trouble

Following the record-setting three double-doubles on against Lyon (12/29), a total of three players have combined for six double-doubles this season. Justin Nabors ranks third in the SLC with three on the year. Senior Lamar Sanders, who led the team with 12 double-doubles last season, has a pair thus far and Darren Hopkins has posted one.

Home Sweet Home

Lamar will play 16 games in the Montagne Center this season. The Cardinals played 14 home games last season, posting an 11-3 record, which ranked as the fifth-best home winning percentage (.786) in the Montagne Center. Since the Montagne Center opened (1984-85), Lamar has won 68.6% of its games in the 10,080-seat arena. Overall, Lamar has won 73.7% of its home games since the 1951-52 season, the Cardinals' first year competing as a four-year institution. Lamar is 8-2 at home this season and 19-5 (.782) under coach Roccaforte.

Checking the RPI and Sagarin Ratings

In the latest NCAA RPI Rankings, Lamar is listed at 222 (up 66 spots from last week), while UCA is 305. In the Sagarin Ratings, Lamar is ranked 205 and UCA is 282. SFA is the highest ranked SLC team at 86, followed by Sam Houston State at 92 and UTA at 125. The SLC is rated 24th among 31 conferences and the Pac-10 is the top-rated conference.