The Central Arkansas Whammy

We gotta quit playing these guys....

The Bears did it to us again last night in a place called Conway, Arkansas. It was another disappointing road loss for our team. Not only were we playing a team we really should be able to beat, but we had another big lead and lost it. In fact, we were up 9 when the 8:00 media time out came. From there on in, we scored only five points, and Central scored on their last six possessions, and then nailed a buzzer beating tip in to win in regulation.

It really isn't very pretty. You can listen to Coach Orr's post-game presser, which I think did a pretty good job at not glossing over our problems.

• We have to get tougher.
• "We've lost some leads."
• He's more concerned at the last six possessions then the fact we didn't score.
• "Our challenge is to get stops."
• We needed that last rebound.
• There are "intangible" things you bring inside you.
• Too many turnovers, especially on charges.
• Too many fouls, especially on three point shooters. (fouling a team shooting 27% from outside the arc just doesn't make good sense).

All this is right. We're clearly still a work in progress, and we're clearly have real problems on the road. We have yet to win on the road this season, and while a couple of those losses (Illinois State, Minnesota and Ohio State) were respectable, you'd hope to beat Central Arkansas and Savannah State.

The game was really lost on fouls. We committed 22 fouls. The Bears shot 26 free throws, and did it well, hitting 22 of them. We made 9, so that's a 13 point swing, and explains how we lost a game where we shot 46% and our opponents shot 37%. Central committed only 11 fouls, and 4 turnovers.

We're 0-5 on the road so far this season, and we were 4-10 last season. So, 4-15 in the Orr era. Also, we were 2-8 over our last ten last year, which is 2-13 over the last 15.

Of course saying that winning on the road is what makes a good basketball team is something akin to saying that being a good mountain climber is what gets you up Mt. Everest. Winning on the road is what separates the good teams from the bad teams.

And, right now, we're not quite there.