29 Jan 2025 UCA hosts ASUN newcomers this week
CONWAY — For the first time since 2005, the University of Central Arkansas Bears took on the West Georgia Wolves last night at the Farris Center. Visit ucasports.com for results.

The Wolves, newcomers to the Atlantic Sun Conference this season, and Bears were former conference mates in the NCAA Division II Gulf South Conference. They met three previous times, all in postseason play since the GSC played in divisions during the regular season. Ironically, the teams have never played on either of their respective home courts.
The last meeting was on March 12, 2005, in Montevallo, Ala., in the NCAA Division II South Regional, with UCA winning 74-71 to advance to face Lynn University. The Bears lost that game 73-69.
The Bears and Wolves also met the year before in the GSC Tournament in Tupelo, Miss., with UWG winning 58-50 in a third-round matchup. They also played in the second round of the 1998 GSC Tournament in Cleveland, Miss., with the Bears winning 76-73.
West Georgia, coached by seventh-year head coach Dave Moore, is just 4-17 overall and 2-6 in the ASUN in its first season at the Division I level after making consecutive trips to the NCAA D-II South Regionals the past two seasons, finishing 27-6 last year.
The Wolves are led by 6-foot-6, 206-pound junior forward Shelton Williams-Dryden, who averages 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds a game. He was a junior college All-American at Milwaukee Area Tech last year.
UWG got its second ASUN victory on Saturday, dominating North Florida 92-72 at home in Carrollton, Ga. The Wolves shot 54.2 percent on their home floor and made 22 of 25 free-throw attempts. Kolten Griffin, a 6-6 senior forward, had 24 points to lead six players in double figures. Williams-Dryden added 17 points.
UCA is coming off a 68-55 loss to second-place Lipscomb on Saturday, its first game without leading scorer Layne Taylor, who is battling a shoulder injury. Senior Elias Cato had a team-high 17 points, while freshman Cole McCormick added 13 and sophomore Brayden Fagbemi 12.
Neither team does very deep on the bench, with the Bears getting just 11 points off their bench against Lipscomb and UWG getting 12 vs. UNF. The Bears average 71.0 points per game while the Wolves average 69.4. The teams are the two worst three-point shooting teams in the league, percentage wise, while UCA makes 9.0 per game and UWG just 5.6.
UCA returns to the road on Saturday to take on the second-place North Alabama Lions — another former GSC foe — at 7:45 p.m. in Florence, Ala.