Brownell searching for the right combination

[IE]

? With three returning starters, Wright State looked like it had, if not a veteran basketball team, one with considerable experience.

That was seven games ago.

Vaughn Duggins was the team's leading returning scorer, and Todd Brown was No. 2. Each logged 34.6 minutes of playing time. Will Graham averaged 30.1 minutes.

Tonight, when the Raiders play at Arkansas-Little Rock, only one of them ? Graham ? might be in the starting lineup. Duggins is injured and will miss most of the month. Brown is in a horrible shooting slump.

Suddenly, sophomore N'Gai Evans and junior John David Gardner are the starters at guard. Junior big man Ronnie Thomas ? coming off knee and ankle problems ? has started six games. Cory Cooperwood, a junior college transfer, is the only player to start every game. The other starting position has rotated.

"We have a lot of different guys that are involved in things they haven't had to do (in the past)," WSU coach Brad Brownell said. "It's a different thing to be asked to do the job for 12 minutes than 30 minutes."

Evans has progressed the most. As a freshman, he didn't even play in the first 10 games. Now, he's averaging 26.6 minutes. Gardner was contributing minutes last season, but as a reserve, until he twisted an ankle and missed 20 games.

Now, Gardner's not only starting, he's playing more than 23 minutes a game.

"Basically, at practice, Coach tells you to be ready," Evans said. "You go through the reps. It's not like it's new when you get into a game. It shouldn't be a surprise. You've just got to be ready, whether you're going to play or not. However many minutes they need me to play, I'm going to play it."

Gardner feels the same way.

"You've got to be prepared if you're going to play four minutes or 34 minutes," Gardner said. "The difference now is, I know when my number's being called. It's going to be called right from the start."

All the lineup changes have not worked smoothly for the Raiders, who lost their first six games before defeating Toledo 50-35 on Tuesday, Dec. 9.

"Every kid's different," Brownell said. "How long does it take them to adjust to your system? How long does it take to adjust to Division I? We didn't anticipate Vaughn being out. For a guy like N'Gai, it's on-the-job training."

Thomas, who missed significant minutes last season to injuries, knows about that.

"Last year, I'd come in and the game's already flowing, and I just popped in there," Thomas said. "This year, starting, I've got to deliver from the beginning. This is a bigger responsibility."

 

[IE]

Starting lineups
Wright State
Cory Cooperwood Jr. 6-7 F 9.7
Ronnie Thomas Jr. 6-9 C 3.9
Will Graham Sr. 6-2 G 6.7
J.D. Gardner Jr. 6-4 G 7.3
N'Gai Evans So. 6-1 G 5.9

Little Rock
John Fowler Sr. 6-4 F 10.0
Wayne Burton Jr. 6-8 F 2.5
Shane Edwards Sr. 6-7 G 9.3
B. Patterson Sr. 6-6 G 5.1
Matt Mouzy So. 6-0 G 14.0

About Ark.-Little Rock

Trojans have already beaten Creighton, at home, 71-69, but also lost last week 59-37 at Missouri State. UALR shot just 23.4 percent in that game, 12.5 percent in the second half on the way to 21 turnovers. Trojans also missed 11-of-12 3-point shots, but rebounded well enough in their next game to beat Oral Roberts 69-66. Oral Roberts will be a WSU opponent in the San Juan Shootout next week.

About Wright State

Now that the elusive first victory is in the books, the Raiders have no room to breath easily as UALR has not lost at home and is coming off a 69-66 victory at Oral Roberts. Following this game, the Raiders do a quick turnaround and play at No. 11 Wake Forest on Sunday. Coach Brad Brownell has gone with three consistent starters the last five games ? guards John David Gardner and N'Gai Evans along with inside man Cory Cooperwood ? but has made changes at the other positions. Nine of the 12 scholarship players have started.

Outlook

While WSU's defense has been superb, there continue to be shooting deficiencies to address. Raiders made only 1-of-19 shots from beyond the 3-point line against Toledo, and the WSU coaches counted 12 of those shots as being wide open and three more being "as wide open or pretty close to wide open," said Brownell. "There were only two shots we considered bad." Opponents have shot better than 40 percent against UALR and nearly 36 from 3-point range, but WSU is making only 36 percent of its shots and a paltry 18 percent from the line.

Quote

"They're pretty good," Brownell said of the Trojans. "That's one reason why we found these guys. Nobody else wanted to play them. They're very good."

 

[IE]

UALR faces low-scoring , tough-minded opponent



UALR hosts Wright State tonight at the Jack Stephens Center, but the Trojans are not sure what to expect when the teams tip off at 7 p.m.

The 1-6 Raiders are a difficult bunch to figure.

Two key players returned from last year's 21-10 team, guards Vaughn Duggins (13.8 points per game) and Todd Brown, who averaged 12.7 points and shot 42 percent from behind the three-point line.

But Wright State has struggled offensively, shooting 36 percent from the field and 18 percent from behind the threepoint line and averaging 55.1 points per game.

Brown, in particular, has not found his shot, hitting 18 percent from the field while averaging 4.4 points and is not in the starting lineup. Duggins, a first-team All-Horizon League selection, has a broken finger and is not expected to play.


"For whatever reason, they're off to a tough start," said UALR Coach Steve Shields, who described Wright State as talented and well-coached. Shields said coaches of Wright State's opponents he has talked to "say they are a team that plays extremely hard every night out and is one that is ready to break out."

Wright State won its first game Tuesday, beating Toledo 50-35 at home. The Raiders made 1 of 19 three-point attempts and missed numerous open shots in the game, but locked up Toledo on defense, holding it to 29 percent shooting.

"It wasn't pretty, but if you like defense, it was pretty," Brownell told the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News. "It was an outstanding defensive effort. We're playing as hard as we can play right now."

Wright State had 14 steals and forced Toledo into 26 turnovers.

"When you turn the ball over 26 times, it's really hard to win no matter what you shoot," Toledo Coach Gene Cross said after the game. "When teams are physical with you and you break off your cuts and allow them to dictate and impose their will on you, you're more than likely going to lose."

UALR was exposed to a similar situation last week in Springfield, Mo., when the Trojans' offense was smothered in a 59-37 loss to Missouri State. UALR shot 23 percent and had 21 turnovers in that game.

"The thing I hope the Missouri State game teaches us is that you can't turn the ball over and you have to be able to finish plays if you are going to have success," Shields said. "I was really proud of the way we bounced back from that against Oral Roberts. I felt like we played 30 or 32 minutes of the best basketball we've played this year."

Shields praised Brownell, who had a stop at North Carolina-Wilmington before coming to Wright State.

"He's a proven, successful coach," Shields said. "We've got to be prepared to rebound the basketball and be sound defensively and do the things we know we have to do on any night in order to play well."

UALR's offense has both thrived and stalled in spurts, sometimes with no rhyme or reason. UALR scored 39 first-half points Monday against Oral Roberts, and then went two stretches of minutes without scoring in the second half.

The Trojans are expected to have junior forward Mike Smith back in the lineup tonight. Smith was dressed but didn't play in Monday's victory at Oral Roberts after missing practices due to a family situation. He has practiced this week.

 

[Dann-o]

so your verdict??????? Who do i take

 

[IE]

passing on either side, was going to play the total under if it was in mid 120's or higher but at 115 seems in the target range...so passing the game altogether...

good luck if you play the game.

 

[spang]

Think the under is still solid.