CENTRAL ARKANSAS BEARS BASKETBALL SID Contact: Steve East • Phone: (501) 450-5743 • Cell: (501) 339-8215 [email protected] UCA BEARS 2019-20 SCHEDULE UCA BEARS (1-7, 0-0 SLC) Oct. 27 vs. Oral Roberts (exh.) W, 92-84 GAME Oct. 30 vs. Univ. of the Ozarks W, 96-63 @ UTAH UTES (6-2, 0-0 PAC 12) Nov. 5 @ Baylor L, 61-105 Nov. 7 vs. Hendrix W, 71-51 Nov. 9 @ Georgetown L, 78-89 Saturday, Dec. 7 • 4:00 p.m. (CT) Nov. 12 @ Duke L, 54-105 9 Jon M. Huntsman Center • Salt Lake City, Utah Nov. 17 vs. Little Rock L, 56-76 Nov. 22 @ California Baptist L, 98-104 (ot) Nov. 23 vs. Prairie View L, 72-78 (ot) Dec. 5 @ Wichita State L, 69-95 • PROJECTED UCA STARTERS • Dec. 7 @ Utah 4:00 (CT) Dec. 14 @ Pepperdine 7:00 (CT) #1 RYLAN BERGERSEN Dec. 18 vs. Incarnate Word* 12:30 JR • G • 6-6, 205 • Boise, Idaho • Borah HS/Link Year Prep/BYU Dec. 21 vs. Texas A&M-CC* 1:00 Dec. 28 @ Marquette 1:00 GP/GS 8/8 • PPG 14.1 • RPG 4.8 • APG 2.0 • SPG 0.5 Jan. 2 @ Houston Baptist* 7:00 Jan. 4 vs. McNeese* 3:00 Jan. 8 @ New Orleans* 7:00 #13 EDDY KAYOULOUD Jan. 11 vs. Sam Houston State* 3:00 SO • G/F • 6-7, 220 • Paris, France • Oak Hill Academy Jan. 15 vs. Stephen F. Austin* 7:00 Jan. 18 @ Nicholls State* 3:00 GP/GS 8/8 • PPG 15.0 • RPG 6.4 • APG 1.7 • SPG 0.8 Jan. 25 vs. Abilene Christian* 3:00 Jan. 29 vs. Southeastern Louisiana* 7:00 Feb. 1 @ Northwestern State* 3:00 #14 COLLIN COOPER Feb. 5 @ Lamar* 7:00 Feb. 8 @ McNeese* 3:00 FR • G • 6-2, 185 • Fayetteville, Ark. • Fayetteville HS Feb. 12 vs. New Orleans* 7:00 GP/GS 8/3 • PPG 4.4 • RPG 1.9 • APG 1.7 • BPG 0.7 Feb. 15 @ Sam Houston State* 3:30 Feb. 19 @ Stephen F. Austin* TBA Feb. 22 vs. Nicholls State* 3:00 #15 HAYDEN KOVAL Feb. 29 @ Abilene Christian* 3:30 March 3 @ Southeastern Louisiana* 7:00 JR • C • 7-0, 220 • Prosper, Texas • Link Year Prep March 7 vs. Northwestern State* 3:00 GP/GS 8/8 • PPG 12.4 • RPG 6.1 • APG 2.2 • BPG 4.0 Southland Conference Tournament - Katy, Texas Mar. 11-15 TBA TBA #34 JAXSON BAKER RsF • G • 6-57 200 • Phoenix, Ariz. • Brophy Prep GAME INFORMATION GP/GS 8/4 • PPG 6.4 • RPG 3.9 • APG 1.1 • SPG 0.4 TIME: ................... Tipoff 4:00 p.m. (CT) RADIO: ............... KUCA 91.3 FM w/Justin Acri INTERNET: .......... ucasports.com/KUCA TELEVISION: ....... Pac 12 Network SOCIAL MEDIA: ... Twitter: @ucasports / @UCAMBB BEAR TRACKS... Facebook: University of Central Arkansas Athletics SERIES: ................ first meeting between the teams √ THE SERIES: UCA and Utah have never met in men’s basketball. COACHES: UCA - Russ Pennell is 48-115 in his sixth season at UCA. His overall √ LAST GAME: UCA had 30 turnovers that led to 39 points in a 95-69 loss at Wichita record is 142-173 (11 years). State on Thursday night in Wichita, Kan. UTAH - Larry Krystkowiak is 116-113 in his 9th season at Utah. After trailing 53-28 at halftime, the Bears played within 42-41 of the Shockers in the His overall record is 202-133 in 11 seasons. second half, shooting 51.9 percent from the field and hitting 6 of 10 from three-point range in the final 20 minutes. UCA got 23 points from sophomore Eddy Kayouloud (3 of 5 from three-point) and 14 from junior Rylan Bergersen. UCA actually outshot WSU UCA junior center Hayden Koval also played with that duo at from the field (49.0% to 47.3%) but the Shockers took 74 shots to UCA’s 49 due to the Link Year Prep before coming to UCA two years ago. turnovers. The 69 points was the second-most allowed by WSU this season. Jones has missed the past three games due to an ankle injury. √ VS. THE BEST: The UCA Bears have now played the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the √ NEWCOMERS: The Bears feature five new players this season, nation since moving up to NCAA Division I in 2006-07. UCA lost 94-44 to the No. 1 including one transfer and four freshmen. The transfer is junior Kansas Jayhawks on Nov. 19, 2009 at historic Allen Fieldhouse. The Bears then dropped guard Rylan Bergersen who played at BYU. a 105-54 decision to the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils on Nov. 12 at equally historic Cameron The freshmen include guards Collin Cooper from Fayetteville Indoor Stadium. (Ark.) High School, Lewis McDaniel from Nashville, Tenn. (Ensworth HS) and Masai Olowokere from Brooklyn, NY (American √ RETURNEES: The Bears return four starters, including four of its top five scorers Heritage HS) and center Jonas Munson from Alexandria, Va. (West from a year ago. The biggest job will be to replace the 69 three-pointers from last Potomac HS). Also, guard/forward Jaxson Baker redshirted last year’s senior Thatch Unruh. season and will be seeing his first action this year. The returning starters are junior guard DeAndre Jones, junior center Hayden Koval, Olowokere is the nephew of former University of Florida star sophomore forward Eddie Kayouloud and sophomore Khaleem Bennett. Those four Udonis Haslem, who has played with the Miami Heat since 2003. combined to scored 40.3 points a game and pull down 18.3 rebounds per game. They started a combined 116 games. √ THE SCHEDULE: The Bears have not dodged the big-name Koval and Jones entered the season with 115 career starts in their two years in the opponents since moving to NCAA Division I in 2016-17, and hit purple and gray. Bennett, however, is set to redshirt after breaking a bone in his foot season’s schedule is no different. at the end of the 2018-19 season and rehabbing up until practice began this season. UCA will play at Baylor (Nov. 5), at Georgetown (Nov. 9), at Duke (Nov. 12), at Wichita State (Dec. 5), at Utah (Dec. 7), at Pepperdine √ REUNITED: UCA junior guard DeAndre Jones is reunited with a junior high and high (Dec. 14) and at Marquette (Dec. 28). school teammate and lifelong friend, Rylan Bergersen, a transfer from BYU. Jones and Since moving up, UCA has played at Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, Bergersen grew up together in Boise, Idaho and have been friends since their youth. Butler, Indiana, Oregon, UNLV, Michigan, Connecticut, Oklahoma, They both played at Borah High School and then at Link Year Prep in Branson, Mo. Oklahoma State, Missouri, Arizona State, Iowa, Creighton, 2019-20 UCA BEARS BASKETBALL • PAGE 2 Memphis, New Mexico State, Pittsburgh, Wisconsin and Mississippi State, among others. √ ASSISTED: Junior point guard DeAndre Jones is very close to breaking the UCA career assist record, which ironically, is held by his head coach Russ Pennell. Jones is now second in career assists at UCA with 335, trailing only Pennell, who had 341 assists in just two years at UCA (1982-84). Jones has played in 73 career games, giving him a career assist average of 4.7. √ BLOCK IT OUT: Junior center Hayden Koval is already the career blocked shot leader at UCA after only two seasons with 209. He set the single-season record of 105 as a freshman and added 74 more as a junior. He already has 32 through eight games this season. The previous record was just 148 held by Durrell Nevels (2006-08), with third place held by UCA Hall of Famer Joe Sitkowski (100, 1988-92). √ HIGH-SCORING FAMILY: Former UCA Bear Jordan Howard, who broke the 26-year-old career scoring record at UCA and finished his career with has 2,524 career points, is one half of the second-high scoring brother duo in NCAA history. He and his brother, Marquette’s Markus Howard, trail only Steph and Seth Curry, who scored a combined 4,736 at Duke/Liberty/Davidson. Jordan and Markus have a combined 4,661 points, 76 points short of break the Curry’s mark. They are ahead of third place Tyler/Ben Hansbrough, as well as Larry/Eddie Bird and Chuck/Wesley Person. The Bears play at Marquette on Dec. 28. Markus Howard, who missed Wednesday’s game with a concussion, would need to average 24.5 points per game over the next three games to have a chance to actually break the record during the UCA game. Markus Howard scored 40 and 51 points in back-to-back games last week in the Orlando Invitational. Jordan Howard broke the UCA school record (by 352 points) held by UCA Hall of Famer Clifton Bush (1988-92) and did it in 19 fewer games (110 to 129) than the former NAIA All-American. He had had 14 30+ scoring games and two 40+ games. Howard also became the career Division I leading scorer in the state of Arkansas against, surpassing All-American Todd Day, who scored 2,395 points at the University of Arkansas (1989-92). √ TURNING IT OVER: The Bears had back-to-back games with 28 (Prairie View) and 30 (Wichita State) turnovers, upping their season average to 19.2 per game. which ranks last in the Southland Conference. UCA has had five consecutive games with at least 18 turnovers. Their best outings were 12 turnovers against both Hendrix College and Georgetown.