Neither Keith Richard nor ULM’s basketball program are in a position to turn their collective nose up at a win.
With that being said, that doesn’t mean Richard was going to overlook his team’s performance down the stretch in a crucial home matchup with Little Rock.
The Warhawks (12-12, 8-5) were able to hold on and beat the top-ranked team in the Sun Belt standings 86-82, but they made it interesting in the final two minutes when a combination of turnovers and defensive lapses allowed the Trojans (21-3, 11-2) to cut a double-digit lead to just three points.
While Richard’s demeanor from the coach’s box grew more and more animated with each mistake, the Warhawks didn’t share his sense of dread and put the game away late at the free-throw line.
Deng and senior guard Justin Roberson each scored a game-high 23 points while ULM received 11-point efforts from junior point guard Nick Coppola and freshman forward Travis Munnings.
Richard credited Munnings’ 2-for-2 performance from the 3-point line in the first half for opening up opportunities inside for the Warhawks.
“The biggest thing was Little Rock couldn’t lay off of him in the second half, which opened up the post for us. We worked all week in practice on playing off the post and our 3-point shooting helped us out down there and forced them to make a choice,” Richard said.
The repercussions from ULM’s win over Little Rock were felt around the entire Sun Belt and set up a winner-take-all matchup between the Trojans and UL Lafayette for first place in the conference on Saturday.
The Warhawks moved to third place in the overall standings with Arkansas State coming to Fant-Ewing Coliseum on Saturday at 4 p.m. The Red Wolves’ loss to the Cajuns on Thursday night dropped them to a fifth-place tie in the league with Georgia Southern.
A win over Arkansas State would keep ULM at third going into a two-week road swing, while a loss could drop them down to fifth depending on the outcome of UT-Arlington-Appalachian State and Georgia Southern-South Alabama.