Boiling hot off a win against Florida Gulf Coast University, the UCA men’s basketball team couldn’t stand the heat against the Stetson Hatters, dropping the away game 99-80.
The Hatters (13-10, 8-4 ASUN) bossed up offensively against UCA (8-17, 3-9 ASUN) Feb. 4 in a bid to defend home court, with a total of 15 three-pointers during the fiery game.
According to Stetson athletics’ website gohatter.com, the team broke a massive score record.
“The Hatters outrebounded UCA by 20, 42-22. The aforementioned 20 assists were on 37 made field goals with 13 turnovers. In what may be the stat of the day, the Hats have not scored 99 points in a regulation ASUN conference game since defeating Belmont 106-95 on December 16, 2001.”
Despite the Hatters’ record-breaking effort, UCA Coach Brock Widders gave props to the Bears for their offensive strides as well.
“The offensive numbers, you look at them, they are great,” Widders said. “You hit 10 threes, you shoot 40 percent from three, your assists are at 18, your turnovers are five. And you lose by 20.”
“So you better do some self-examining and see where you didn’t do well. And that is rebounding and defense. We have to take pride and you have to care about those two categories just as much as we do those offensive categories,” Widders said.
Hatters graduate student guard Sam Peek acknowledged his team’s fiery offense while admitting a tired defense.
In a statement on gohatters.com, Peek said, “Today we played good and when we move the ball, we’re really unstoppable.”
He continued, “We have so many weapons and offensive players that can shoot the ball. Defensively we played good but may have faded a little bit but it was important to end strong because it transitions into next weekend. It’s going to be big for us.”
With only a handful of games left in the conference season, the loss leaves the Bears in 13th place among its ASUN rivals. The Hatters, however, sit in fourth. Preceded only by Eastern Kentucky, Kennesaw State and Liberty University.
Hatters’ Peek shared his excitement for the team’s championship prospect on gohatters.com, “We’re so deep this year, I think we can make a big run in the tournament. We have so many guys that can share the ball that anybody can get 25 on a given night. We need everybody.”
As for the Bears, senior guard/forward Eddy Kayouloud led the team’s effort with a total of 24 points. According to UCAsports.com, Kayouloud’s performance against the Hatters was only overshadowed by his “32-point, 11-rebound double-double” against Florida Gulf Coast University just days before.
UCA’s Widders gave words of encouragement about his team, despite not taking the dub.
“Despite today, we do like our guys,” Widders said. “We like our team. If we can continue to get this group healthy and we continue to play together, we can play good basketball. We just have to get home and fix some things. The goal is to make the conference tournament and that’s what we’re shooting for.”
The Bears’ next game will be home, in the Farris Center, against the Lipscomb Bisons at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9. The game is available for streaming on ESPN+ and radio stations The Bear 91.3 and JACK FM 92.7.