After spending the first month and a half of the season playing in nine states across three time zones, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff’s home opener has arrived.
The UAPB men’s basketball team will host Ecclesia College at 6 p.m. Monday, then Champion Christian at noon Wednesday at H.O. Clemmons Arena.
UAPB (1-10) began the season with 11 straight road games. The constant travel prevented the Golden Lions from practicing between games until the Thanksgiving break, which gave them a week and a half to prepare for a trip to Chicago.
That trip went well, with UAPB earning its first win of the season at Illinois-Chicago, 63-62, before nearly upsetting Big East foe DePaul in a 76-72 loss.
Head coach Solomon Bozeman said the road trip brought the Golden Lions together as a team.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“I think we found out how tough it is to win on the road,” Bozeman said. “We were able to get a big win against UIC, which is a really good program. We learned how to fight through adversity. … I thought we got better defensively, and I thought we took strides offensively where we started to really share the basketball and really believe in one another.”
The Golden Lions played their best defensive game of the season in Chicago. UAPB held UIC to 34.9% from the field and 12.5% from 3-point range, both season lows by UAPB’s opponents. DePaul’s 40% from the field and 16.7% from 3-point range were the second lowest. The Golden Lions also tallied a season-high 12 blocks against UIC.
Offensively, UAPB finished with 19 assists in each game, the most in any game this season. The Golden Lions had 18 the game before against Miami (Ohio) and 16 in the one game since the Chicago trip, last Wednesday’s loss at Tulsa.
Senior guard Quion Williams scored the game-winning free throw against UIC with 15 seconds remaining and finished with a team-high 16 points. He said the win against UIC felt good after an 0-8 start, and it showed the Golden Lions what they must do to win games.
“Early on, I feel like a bunch of guys, including me, I felt like we could beat a lot of teams with our offense,” Williams said. “But now, we’ve been humbled a little bit. We gotta learn how to play together on defense.”
Williams is one of several newcomers to the team this year. Returners Kyle Brown, Dennis Asoro and Trejon Ware have played a combined 167 minutes this year with an all-new starting five. Brown tied his season high in minutes with 16 against Tulsa as he made his first start of the season.
Senior forward Jaquan Scott’s 30-point night against Tulsa saw him pass Williams as the team’s leading scorer. Scott is averaging 15.5 points per game entering Monday’s home opener, with Williams right behind at 15.4. French-born freshman Milhan Charles averages 11.3.
UAPB hasn’t had much scoring help from the bench so far this season. Graduate student Ahmad Johnson started once this season but typically plays from the bench. His 5.1 points per game lead the bench players, though he is coming off a season-high 11-point night against Tulsa. True freshman Jai’Chaunn Hayes has two double-digit games off the bench this year.
Bozeman said players such as Johnson and Hayes need to keep gaining confidence and improving so UAPB can turn to them more frequently.
“We do need their shooting and their scoring off the bench,” Bozeman said. “Over the last couple games, I been trusting those guys a lot more. Just their everyday practice habits of them coming to work every day and then me getting more comfortable with them in the game. I’m starting to get more comfortable with them, so I feel good about what we got coming off the bench right now.”
UAPB may get some help this week. Bozeman said redshirt junior Anthony Sellars was cleared to start practicing on Friday. The coach said Sellars likely won’t play Monday but might play 10-15 minutes on Wednesday.
Sellars transferred to UAPB prior to last season from Three Rivers Community College in Missouri. As a sophomore with the Raiders, Sellars started 23 games and scored 13.1 points per game with 5.5 rebounds per game. He was a 46.6% 3-point shooter, making 34 of 73.
He hasn’t played for UAPB since arriving in Pine Bluff due to injury but may finally be nearing his debut. Bozeman said he is excited to get Sellars on the court.
“We expected him to be good help for our team,” Bozeman said. “Long, athletic, can make shots, can rebound the basketball. Just gives us another guy that’s super, super athletic, and I think he’s going to be able to help our team in big fashion once he gets confidence and once he gets back in that groove.”
Both of this week’s home opponents hail from the National Christian College Athletic Association.
Ecclesia plays in the NCCAA’s Division I, while Champion plays in its Division II. They will be the only non-NCAA Division I opponents UAPB plays this season and will be the Golden Lions’ final non-conference games before starting SWAC play at home on Jan. 3 against Alabama A&M.