When University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball coach George Ivory took stock of his team after an 8-25 finish to last season, he saw a group that could stop opponents but had difficulty putting points on the board.
“Third in defense and last in offense,” Ivory said. “It didn’t balance out right.”
In the 10-team Southwestern Athletic Conference, the Golden Lions finished first in blocks and third in steals. But they came in last in rebounding and free throws, and sixth and seventh in assists and three-point percentage, respectively.
So the coaching staff hit the recruiting trail on a mission to get more scoring, and returned with three junior college players and two high school freshmen. Ivory thinks the newcomers will boost a newly deep Lions team as it takes on Champion Baptist College of Hot Springs in a home exhibition Friday at 7 p.m.
“I haven’t really picked a starting five yet,” Ivory said. “We’re looking at some different combinations right now [depending on] if we decide to go big or small. We’ll probably know more by Thursday.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB returns eight players with playing experience, seven of whom played more than 10 minutes per game.
Few lit up the scoreboard outside of senior guard Ghiavonni Robinson, who averaged 11.1 points and swiped 1.4 steals per game in his third year out of Itta Bena (Mississippi) High School. Aside from Robinson, the leading returning scorers are senior guard Charles Jackson (6.2 per game), senior forward Marquis Cunningham (6.0), sophomore guard Marcus Wallace (4.5) and senior guard Jaquan Lynch (4.4).
That’s where the newcomers are projected to help out.
Travon Harper, a 6-foot-8, 220 pound junior forward, scored 16 points and seven rebounds for Mississippi Delta Community College last season. Out of Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, 6-foot-4 junior guard Joe’Randle Toliver averaged 11 points and five rebounds per game while his teammate Trent Steen (6-foot-8, 220 pounds) averaged 12 points and eight rebounds. Their efforts helped MSCC lead the country in rebounding with nearly 50 per game.
Ivory also expects contributions from 6-foot-9 true freshman Artavious McDyess out of Columbus (Mississippi) High School, whose father is 16-year NBA veteran Antonio McDyess.
“He’s gonna be a pretty good player for us,” Ivory said.
On the interior, he feels good about four players – Harper, Steen, McDyess and 6-foot-7 senior Devin Berry. Robinson and Toliver lead a perimeter group that also boasts returning guards Jackson, Lynch, Wallace and sophomore J’Breun Sprinkle, among others.
Add it all up, and it amounts to a deeper team, which for Ivory means pushing the pace.
“We like to get up and down,” he said. “If we get the opportunity we like to get fastbreak shots. We’ll run zone more this year, because we’re deeper than we were last year, more athletic, so we’ll play a more pressing style.”
Ivory said he plans to play every player on Friday against Champion Baptist, as well as the season opener on Nov. 11 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.