After picking up its first Division I victory of the season over the weekend, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team will now look for its first road win.
UAPB will face the University of Louisiana Monroe at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, La. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.
UAPB (2-8) is coming off Saturday’s 84-78 home win against Central Arkansas, which ended a seven-game losing streak. The Golden Lions are 2-0 at home but 0-8 on the road so far.
Head Coach Solomon Bozeman said UAPB will need better rebounding to beat the Warhawks.
“They gonna crash the glass,” Bozeman said. “Sometimes, they send all five. I know if they watch that film (from Saturday), see we gave up 22 offensive rebounds, I’m pretty sure their coach will probably think we’re a soft team, so we gotta do a better job of hitting those guys and boxing out.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
UAPB’s opponents have outrebounded the Golden Lions by 9.3 per game, while ULM (3-7) is averaging 4.9 more rebounds per game than its opponents. ULM averages 12.3 offensive rebounds per game, which is fifth-most in the Sun Belt Conference and just inside the top 100 nationally.
The Warhawks’ leading scorer is also their leading rebounder. Junior guard Jalen Bolden averages 13 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. He has a team-leading 21 offensive boards.
UAPB’s leading rebounder, junior forward Robert Lewis, has missed the past four games. Bozeman said Saturday he had no update on Lewis, who was averaging 6.3 rebounds per game.
In his absence, senior forward Klemen Vuga is the next-leading rebounder with 4.7 per game. No other Golden Lions average more than 3.4.
UAPB got leading scorer Christian Moore back against UCA. The junior guard scored 9 points with 11 assists and 7 rebounds while four others reached double digits, led by junior guard Quentin Bolton Jr. with 22 points.
Bozeman said though Moore didn’t score many points in his return, he helped set up the other guards.
“We been on (Moore) about being a point guard, distributing, getting people the ball,” Bozeman said. “The scoring’s gonna come. It’s going to be easy for him, because he’s so fast. He can make shots. I thought (Saturday), he set the tone with 11 assists. He looked like a point guard.”
UAPB made a season-high 15 3-pointers against UCA after attempting a season-high 32. The Golden Lions were known for their 3-point shooting last season but hadn’t emphasized it as much this year.
The Golden Lions’ increased emphasis on 3-point shooting also came with a spike in percentage. UAPB was shooting 29.3 percent from deep entering the UCA game but shot 46.9 percent against the Bears.
Keeping that hot shooting going could help the Golden Lions against the Warhawks, who allow 8.4 deep shots per game.
Bozeman said UAPB hadn’t been shooting enough 3-pointers until Saturday.
“We been taking quick, bad shots,” Bozeman said. “We got guys that can shoot it. We’re not a 30 percent 3-point shooting team like we’d been just playing, but we just been taking bad shots. So, I though shot selection was great (on Saturday).”