06 Nov 2024 Bears drop season opener to Cougars

PROVO, Utah — A young but talented University of Central Arkansas basketball team got its feet wet against what could be a Top 25 team in the Brigham Young Cougars on Tuesday night in their season opener at the Marriott Center.

The Cougars connected on 15 three-pointers and won the rebound battle 49-31 in taking an 88-50 victory over the Bears in front of a crowd of 16,941.

First-year head coach John Shulman’s squad had several bright spots to build off, including 21 points from senior Elias Cato, one of just three scholarship players returning for the Bears. UCA played five freshmen and four sophomores, at times with four freshmen on the court at the same time. Nehemiah Turner, a 6-foot-10 center, pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds, while sophomore guard Brayden Fagbemi had a team-best 7 assists.

“We’ve got good players, but we’re new and we’re young,” said Shulman, who took over the program in March. “And to bring them into this environment, it’s not easy.  But we’re better for it. One of the officials told me, you have a really good team, and we do have a really good team. I’m proud of our kids, and we just have to get better. We have a starting point.

“They (BYU) may have two Top 20 picks in the NBA draft next year. And then you’ve got 18,000 people in here going crazy. Really tough environment. But I’m glad we had a tough environment, I’m glad it was hard. You play a game early against somebody that is bad, you don’t get a realistic look of yourself. We got a really realistic look of ourselves tonight.” 

The Bears hung close with the much taller Cougars for the first 10 minutes of the game, trailing just 16-14 at the second media time out of the game. But BYU began to find its range from beyond the arc, hitting seven threes before halftime to grab a 46-23 lead at the break.

BYU finished with four in double figures, led by 6-9 freshman guard Ego Demin with 18 points, including four three-pointers. The Cougars also forced UCA into 18 turnovers and scored 24 points off them.

“The deal was their length and their size,” said Shulman. “There were things open on the court but we can’t simulate that length in practice. There is stuff open on the court but you can’t see it. Give them credit, but I thought we made a boatload of mistakes. But we had four freshmen on the court at the same time in both halves.

“We gave up 20 offensive boards, and that’s absolutely unacceptable. We clean that up, and we can clean that up, and all of a sudden that chips away at what we’re doing.  

“We’ve got some pieces, but it’s early. Can you imagine playing your first college game in here? That’s a lot to ask of these kids. And I thought we responded early, but then they went on a run. I’ve very rarely gotten beat 38 and felt good about it,  and I don’t feel good about it. But I tell you what I do feel good about, I feel good about our team.

“We could have done some different things, but there weren’t a whole lot of people that would have beat BYU in here tonight.”

UCA continues its Utah road trip, taking on the Utah Utes on Thursday night in Salt Lake City.