Sports

JUNIOR COLLEGE PLAYERS PROVIDE STABILITY FOR LIONS

By Troy Schulte/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, November 20, 2008 10:01 AM CST

When George Ivory took over as Arkansas-Pine Bluff basketball coach last April, he took a look at his inherited roster and realized there were a few holes to fill.

Gone were Larry Williams’ 12.4 points per game and team-high 67 assists.

Gone were William Bird’s 12.3 points and 6.8 rebounds.

And gone were Jarvis Gunter’s team-leading 7.7 rebounds.

Following last year’s 13-18 season, UAPB lost five players who started a combined 116 games a year ago. When Ivory first arrived on campus, he thought he needed help, and he needed it fast.

“You had a mixture of young wing players coming back,” Ivory said. “We felt like we had to go out and get some big kids to come in to help out.”

That need led Ivory to two junior college players who weren’t much interested in his previous recruiting attempts while he was an assistant last season at Mississippi Valley State.

Ivory spoke to both Lebaron Weathers and Tavaris Washington during the recruiting process last season. But by the time he was hired as UAPB coach in April, neither had made up their minds.

So the first-year coach brought them, and forward Hugh Barnett, in for a visit and told them that there would be an opportunity to start in their first season playing on the Division I level.

Last season, all three were playing at junior colleges in Florida, Mississippi or Iowa. This season, they have all been in the starting lineup for UAPB’s first two games.

And when the Golden Lions (0-2) play Creighton (1-0) at the Qwest Center at 7 p.m. Thursday in Omaha, Neb., they’ll probably be there again.

“We felt like junior college was our first route,” Ivory said. “That experience of playing on the small college level helps out.”

By the time Ivory called Weathers last spring, he had schools he was interested in, but he was far from making a decision. He heard Ivory mention a chance at playing time during his first season, and Weathers was sold.

“He was a new coach coming in, and that’s better than going somewhere else and they already have their eye on somebody,” Weathers said. “Here, everybody was seen as an equal.”

Following UAPB’s first game of the season, Weathers looked to be adjusting nicely to the increase in competition.

The 6-8 Hattiesburg, Miss., native put up 22 points and 10 rebounds in a 76-56 loss to Colorado. He made 9-of-18 shots, including 3-of-7 from 3-point range. His size, combined with his shooting ability, is what first drew Ivory’s attention. They also got assistant coach James Wright interested while he was an assistant at West Alabama.

When Ivory added Wright to his staff, the two joined forces on the lanky forward.

“We came in and we both thought we needed a big guy who can shoot, play the low-post and rebound,” Ivory said. “He’s doing an outstanding job. He’s working hard.”

Washington had a big game against the Buffaloes, too. The guard from Pensacola,, Fla., scored 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and had seven rebounds. Washington made his visit to UAPB the same time as Barnett, who is from London but played last season at Iowa Western Community College, and grew close to the few returning players the team had.

“I knew Terrance Calvin was coming back so I was kind of happy about that. I knew we would have a good point guard,” Washington said. “Then they told me the other guys who were coming back and that made the decision a little easier.”

Both players, though, found themselves in early foul trouble and struggled in a 76-47 loss to Texas A&M on Sunday. Weathers didn’t score a point in missing all seven of his shots and had six rebounds. Washington scored 11 points, the only player to reach double figures for UAPB, but made only 5-of-11 shots and committed five turnovers.

“We worked on some things (Tuesday) that will get me open,” Weathers said. “They’re going to play the shot, if I can pump fake and get a couple of dribbles, they might back off of me.”

Tip-off is at 7 p.m. Following its matchup with Creighton, UAPB will stay in Nebraska, as it plays at Nebraska on Saturday. Tip-off for that game is also set for 7 p.m.

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