12 Feb 2025 Bears back home for two at Ferris

CONWAY — The University of Central Arkansas Bears are back home at the Farris Center for two games starting tonight with a matchup against the Jacksonville Dolphins.

UCA and Jacksonville will tip-off at 6:30 on Scottie Pippen Court. The Bears will then host North Florida at approximately 3:30 on Saturday as part of a doubleheader with the Sugar Bears.

The Bears, still battling a rash of injuries, are 6-5 at the Farris Center this season, with three of those games going to overtime or double overtime. 

Jacksonville (15-9) is in a four-way tie for first in the Atlantic Sun standings with a 9-3 record. That includes a 72-62 victory over the Bears on Jan. 18 in Jacksonville. The Dolphins have won two consecutive games over Stetson and Bellarmine after losing two in a row to Florida Gulf Coast and North Florida. Prior to that, Jacksonville had a six-game ASUN winning streak.

The Bears have never beaten the Dolphins in five games since joining the ASUN. UCA, which was playing its fourth straight road game, had a shot to win the first game, using a 15-0 scoring run in the second half to get within seven points after trailing by as much as 22 points. But the Dolphins held off the Bears for their fifth straight win in the series.

UCA is coming off a 90-67 loss at Austin Peay last Saturday, a game in which the Bears were missing their top three scorers and both point guards due to injury. Freshman guard Layne Taylor is out for the remainder of the season after shoulder surgery. Elias Cato, UCA’s only senior, has missed the past three games with a hamstring injury, while sophomore point guard Brayden Fagbemi missed his first game of the season at APSU with back spasms.

The Bears are still in the running for a berth in the ASUN postseason tournament. UCA is currently tied for 10th place, with the top 10 teams making the field. The four teams tied atop the ASUN standings, Lipscomb, North Alabama, Jacksonville and FGCU, have already sealed their berths.