Post by B02 on Jan 2, 2009 18:09:17 GMT -5
MEN'S BASKETBALL • Jan 2, 2009
CONWAY, Ark _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will go from playing against one of the best players they will face all season to possibly one of the best teams they will see this year on Saturday afternoon at the Farris Center.
The Bears (6-5) lost to UT Martin and All-American Lester Hudson on Wednesday, and now host St. Bonaventure, a well-respected 8-4 team from the Atlantic 10 Conference, at noon Saturday.
“I think they are every bit the same quality of team that Bowling Green was, that UT Martin was,’ said UCA head coach Rand Chappell. “They’ve won at Rutgers, on the road in the Big East. When you get a Big East road win, that’s pretty nice.
“This is going to be a good challenge. We’re glad we’re playing at home, but we’ve got some tough visitors coming in Saturday.’
St. Bonaventure has victories over Marist, Princeton, Eastern Michigan, Robert Morris and Rutgers (in overtime) this season. The Bonnies have won five of the past six games, including a 90-82 overtime victory at Bucknell on Tuesday.
They are led by 6-foot-5 junior guard Jonathan Hall, who averages 14.1 points per game. Four others average more than 11 points and a fourth is at 8.9 points per game.
“They’ve got a freshman 6-9 center (Andrew Nicholson) that had 22 points, 8 rebounds and 9 blocks the other night against Bucknell,’ Chappell said. “As a freshman, he’s really made a big difference for them.’
The Bonnies won the only other meeting between the schools in November 2006. St. Bonaventure hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to send the game to overtime, then won 69-64 at the Reilly Center in St. Bonaventure, NY.
UCA’s home game will be part of a rugged Saturday slate for Southland Conference teams. Nicholls State is at Ole Miss, Northwestern State is at Oklahoma State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is at Florida State, Sam Houston is at Central Florida, Lamar is at Memphis, McNeese is at Texas A&M and Southeastern Louisiana is at LSU.
“I think if you saw our game with Bowling Green, you would say that was a great basketball game, maybe one of the best you’ve seen in a while,’ said Chappell, of the Bears’ last-second 67-65 win on Dec. 20. “The UT Martin game was not as good a game but you got to see as good a player as you’ve seen in a long, long time.
“Now when St. Bonaventure comes in on Saturday, it’s just a continuation of that. It’s outstanding basketball at the Farris Center.’