Men’s basketball team prepares for Henderson State at home

The UCA basketball team will have to continue dominating at home at the Farris Center for the next couple of games to keep up the season.
The Bears have one loss on their own territory, but have since claimed back their turf with two wins against visitors Ecclesia and Eastern Illinois earlier in the season.
UCA opened the season with traveling games at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., and at Sacramento State, where the teams struggled in the first halves but made comebacks toward the second, however they were unable to recover and lost, only to return home and lose to Philander Smith as well.
Coach Corliss Williamson and his team got their first win of the season on Nov. 22 and then won their second game at home as well. Afterward, the team traveled to Martin, Tenn., where stakes were high after such devastating defeats on the road when the Bears won over the Sky Hawks with a 75-68 victory leaving the Bears with a 3-3 season as of Monday morning and the Henderson University Reddies game to prepare for tonight.
“What we’re going to try to do is we’re going to try and score off our defense.  We want score offensively as much as possible,” Williamson said. “So far, we’ve worked hard and we’ve done pretty well at it.  We try and we take great pride in that.”
Senior guard Dewan Clayborn said “We’ve been practicing, a lot.  We’ve been working hard on defense. Our defense is important, and we’re practicing to make it that much better.”
Clayborn leads the team in three-point attempts/made, which proved crucial at Sacramento State.
“These next games, they’re important, but what they really are is getting us ready for conference.  Conference is the goal and these next few games are really what’s going to help with that,” Clayborn said.
Earlier in the season, the Bears were picked fifth in the East Division in both of the preseason Southland Conference polls. UCA, under the direction of Williamson, was fifth in the coaches’ poll and tied for fifth with Nicholls State in the sports information director’s poll.
Williamson said the biggest key in conference play is to win at home.
The Bears are hoping for this to be true as they go up against the Reddies (2-2) at home at the Farris Center Dec. 7 at 7 p.m. Afterwards the Bears must take the game back on the road, and face the Arkansas State University Red Wolves.
Williamson said he feels comfortable with the next upcoming home games.
“There’s just something about being at home and being surrounded by your fans, but after Wednesday we play away and we’re looking forward to the stress. Hopefully, it’ll keep us focused,” he said.