Sports

UAPB EMBARKS ON NONCONFERENCE ROAD SLATE

By Troy Schulte/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Friday, November 13, 2009 12:37 AM CST

George Ivory’s first season as Arkansas-Pine Bluff men’s basketball coach ended with an encouraging fourth-place finish in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

Ivory partly credits the way his team played in the final two months of the season to what the Golden Lions went through during the first two.

Around this time last season UAPB embarked an 11-game road trip to start the season that saw it play teams from seven different conferences in nine different states.

Tonight, when Year 2 of the Ivory era begins at Colorado, the Golden Lions will begin a similar trip. This year’s edition also has the Golden Lions playing all 11 of their nonconference games on the road against teams from seven different conferences. But UAPB will travel to 10 different states before the start of conference play which, this season, starts with three more games away from home.

UAPB won’t play at H.O. Clemmons Arena until Jan. 16 against Southern.

Ivory said the slate of games is about as difficult as it was last season and, if it produces the same result, he won’t have any complaints.

“It’s all us all the time on these road trips,” Ivory said. “Our old guys this year, are such a great group of guys, they’re going to blend in well with the younger guys.”

At 8 p.m. tonight, the Golden Lions play a Colorado team that finished 9-22 last season. On Sunday they’ll play Denver, of the Sun Belt Conference, before playing at Texas-El Paso on Wednesday.

The first road trip of the season will also be one of the year’s longest. The Golden Lions, who left Pine Bluff on Wednesday, will travel almost 2,800 miles during their first week on the road, before returning next Thursday for a nine-day break prior to a game at Akron.

“We pretty much know what it’s going to be like,” said forward Lebaron Weathers, a preseason All-SWAC second-team selection.

Weathers remembers last season’s game against Colorado, the season-opener that saw him score 22 points and grab 10 rebounds but UAPB lose 76-56. At the time, 10 new players were still trying to get acclimated to a new coach and Weathers described play as “chaotic.”

This year, with 11 returners, including six seniors and five players with significant starting experience, Ivory expects a smoother go of things. A closed scrimmage against Central Arkansas on Saturday has Ivory feeling better about the prospects.

“Everything runs a lot smoother,” he said. “Sometimes, it’s easy to learn the system when you’ve got five against nobody and you’re running a set.

“But when there is pressure out there, and you’re in a different, hostile environment, it’s a little different.”

The schedule, like last year, also serves as a boon to the athletic department. Last season’s collection of games netted the athletic department around $700,000 and athletic director Skip Perkins said this year’s will bring in about the same amount.

Perkins credited Ivory for putting together such a challenging schedule that does not directly benefit his program.

“He doesn’t have to take that many (money) games,” Perkins said. “The money does not go directly to men’s basketball. ... I try to reward coach in many ways.”

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