Central Arkansas Bears
Friday, November 14, 8pm
Omaha
Last Season: The Bears went 8-21 a year ago in the Southland Conference, continuing their struggle since moving to D1 in 2006. A formerly solid program in DII that counts Scottie Pippen among its’ alumni, UCA hasn’t been able to gain any footing in D1, and a three-year experiment with Arkansas great Corliss Williamson as head coach ended after a 26-62 record when Williamson bolted for the NBA to become an assistant for Sacramento. His departure in early August left them no time to hire a new coach, so they played last year with an interim coach — Clarence Finley — who had been one of Williamson’s assistants. Under Finley, UCA was a respectable 7-8 at home a year ago but an atrocious 1-13 away from home — dropping games to Kansas State, Texas Tech, North Texas and Oral Roberts, among others.
Last Meeting/All-Time Series: The Jays and Bears have never played. The November 14 game is the first of a three-game swing through Nebraska for the Bears — they’ll play on the 16th at UNO, and on the 18th at UNL.
Head Coach: Russ Pennell is in his first year as head coach of the Bears, and played two seasons at UCA for the winningest coach in program history, Don Dyer. He has an impressive resume, having served as an assistant for Eddie Sutton at Oklahoma State, for Rob Evans at Ole Miss, and most notably for Lute Olsen at Arizona, where he took over as interim head coach in 2008-09 after Olsen’s abrupt retirement due to health concerns. Pennell led the Wildcats to a Sweet 16 berth, but was not retained as head coach. After four seasons leading Grand Canyon University, including two straight DII NCAA Tournaments, he coached the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA in 2013 and led them to the Western Conference Finals.
Top Returners: Pennell has cleaned house, retaining just one player from last year’s squad. Ethan Lee, a 6’7″, 190 pound forward, averaged 4.0 points and 2.6 rebounds as a freshman a year ago.
Key Losses: Pretty much everyone else. No, seriously.
Key Additions: Pennell’s first recruiting class is ten-deep and rather impressive on paper. The top addition is undoubtably Jordan Howard, a 5’11” guard who led the state of Arizona in scoring in 2013 at 25.6 points a game. Another player they’re excited about is Otas Iyekekpolor from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, a 6’8″, 220-pound combo forward who averaged 28 points, 17 rebounds and 3 assists per game as a senior. Michael “Boo” Milligan Jr., from Los Angeles, is a 6’6″, 195-pounder, and played at Future College Prep where he averaged 17 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists as a senior. His father, Michael Milligan Sr., played at Florida and Tennessee State and was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1983 NBA draft.