Getting back to defensive basics

At the beginning of this season it looked like the strength of this team would be 3-point shooting. And this has been one of our stronger aspects. To date we are shooting 34.7%, which certainly is acceptable. However, in the last two games we shot 22% and 25%, respectively - our third- and fourth-worst efforts of the year. So, we were blown out, right? Well, it happens that those two games were two of our best games of the season. True, we lost to Texas State, but it was at their place in double overtimes, and we play them tough.

Here is the reason why: at the same time we had two of our worst shooting nights, we also had two of our best perimeter-defensive nights. Our opponents shot 32% and 29% from the arc in those two games - our second- and third-best numbers of the season. Strange as it seems with our stable of good 3-point shooters, in those two games we got back to what Steve Shields teams have done best in the past: hard-nosed perimeter defense and making do on offense.

All the nay-sayers and complainers who are waiting for Shields to get fired may get their way this year. He has had a long run in Little Rock - longer than most coaches could have expected - and I suspect that he has run out of time. But if this team gets back to playing his kind of ball, they may win a few more games, and for a while longer I will get to enjoy the hard-nosed, blue-collar style of basketball I enjoy.