Dubious Debut - cusa-fans.com

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Dubious Debut
SMU Stumbles In Opener Against Sun Belt Foe
By Rick Atkinson for cusa-fans.com
http://cusa-fans.com/

DALLAS – SMU opened its 95th season of men’s basketball in less than stellar fashion, losing at home to Arkansas-Little Rock, a 0-14 road team last season. Fifth-year SMU coach Matt Doherty is now 1-4 in season openers.

UALR coach Steve Shields and the Trojans overcame a 12-point first-half deficit for the 57-47 win as SMU’s shooters went silent after the break. The Mustangs threw up 27 shots in the second half and five went in. About that many hit nothing but air.

SMU was 2-of-18 on three-point attempts in the second half and tallied just 17 points.

“We knew we had to be sound, defensively,” said UALR coach Steve Shields. “There were times in the first half I didn’t think we really were. I didn’t think we guarded the ball well enough. They were able to get a lot of direct-line drives which put us in help-and-recover situations. And they shot 50-percent from [three-point range] in the first half.”

What did Shields expect in this first-ever match-up between the schools? “We knew we’d face a pretty sound basketball team,” he said. “Matt does a great job. He has at a number of different places. Obviously, we were very concerned about [SMU senior] Papa Dia, an all-league player - in my opinion, one of the best big guys in this area for sure, maybe in the country. And we knew they had some guards, with Robert [Nyakundi], who can stretch it and shoot it.”

Neither Dia nor Nyakundi caused Shields much trouble this night. The Trojans’ defense held Dia mostly in check, allowing two field goals on seven attempts. And Nyakundi was simply off – going 0-10 from the field.

Shields said having a positive rebound margin at the break (15-13) told him the Trojans had a chance. For the game, UALR outrebounded SMU, 36-32.


SMU coach Matt Doherty

Rodney Clinkscales led SMU with 17 points. True freshman point guard Jeremiah Samarrippas had eight points for the Mustangs, all in the first half. Dia finished with six points, a game-high 12 rebounds and three blocks.

Solomon Bozeman led UALR with 17 points. Courtney Jackson and Eric Kibi added 11 points each.

“This is a good win for us against a very good opponent,” Shields said. “Looking at it from last year’s standpoint, we weren’t very good at all on the road. … I was really proud of our senior leaders tonight.”

Brandon Manning of Dallas, who played for Shields at Waco’s McLennan Community College in the late ‘90s, came out to see his former coach’s team play. “Coach Shields is a determined, energetic, enthusiastic coach. He’s passionate about the game. He cares about his players. That’s why we’re here to see him.”

“I think [the win] meant a lot for him. He’s got a lot of new guys. He’s got seven newcomers. To win on the road, it was pretty big for them. … They didn’t give up. They didn’t quit and that’s what Coach Shields is about.”

Senecca Wall, also of Dallas and a member of McLennan’s 1998 NJCAA Region V championship team along with Manning, wasn’t surprised UALR won.

“[Shields’] players do things the right way,” Wall said. “He’d rather lose a game the right way than win a game the wrong way. That’s what we respect about him. That’s why we’re here to support him today.”

SMU ‘70s great Ira Terrell, a three-time All- Southwest Conference center, summed it up with two words: “Two halves. [SMU] came out pretty well in the first half, executing and doing what I’m sure Coach Doherty wanted to be done. I don’t know what happened. There was a lid on the basket in the second half. When you just score 17 points and, basically, with a minute to go your two leading scorers that you anticipate to lead your team, Papa and Robert, have a total of four points, you’re not going to win very many games.”

“I thought the intensity was there,” Terrell said. “I really did. Sometimes you can try too hard. I thought there was a stretch there where there were too many jumpers going up. I don’t know if Matt was giving everybody the green light, saying, ‘If it’s open shoot it.’ Then you have to shoot it. I would have liked to have seen the ball inside more to Papa.”

“There were some good things out there,” Terrell said. “You saw what Rodney Clinkscales did, 17 points. … So you can take something from that.”

“After a while, once that 10-point lead gets down to five or six, or three or four, now things get a little tight. You’re not as crisp as you had been, probably 60, 70 percent of the game.

Does this game necessarily have to be a big downer or can the team put it behind them? “First of all, you have to put it behind you,” Terrell said. “I don’t think you look at it as a downer. Nobody likes to lose. You certainly don’t want to lose at home, your first game. You like to always get off to a good start.”

“The bottom line: you’ve got to knock shots down. After a while, it’s almost like they were aiming shots, rather than just shooting with confidence like they did in the first half.”

“I thought Jeremiah kind of forced some things there at the end, got a little out of control. That could be credited to his youthfulness and his exuberance trying to make things happen. Sometimes you have to like, ‘OK, slow down. I’m the quarterback. Let me make sure everybody’s in their right place. Then we can make this thing work.’”

“The first half he looked like he was not a freshman. The second half he looked like he was a freshman. He just looked like he was trying to do too much. As a point guard, you can always get your shot. But I think you want to make sure everybody’s in their right places. … Several times he tried to go in with the trees and that’s just not going to happen at 5-10.”

“Fortunately, there’s another game here in seven days.”

Notes:
*Attendance – 5,403
*UALR senior forward Derrick Bails was suspended indefinitely before the game for violating team rules.
Next two for SMU:
*Tuesday, Nov. 16, at TCU, 7 p.m.
*Friday, Nov. 19, Portland State, 3 p.m.


Papa Dia, right