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Thursday, December 16, 1999

Arrow, Isles rue missed opportunities

Texas A&M-CC coach: 'We should be 5-2 right now'

By Mark Zuckerman
Caller-Times
 

Arrow

Many college basketball coaches and fans might look at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's 3-4 record in its first month of existence and be impressed with the progress the Islanders have made in such a short amount of time.
   Ronnie Arrow looks at his team's first seven games and sees the potential for so much more.
   "Truthfully, we should be 5-2 right now," the head coach said Wednesday. "Texas Tech beat us, and UT-San Antonio beat us at their place, but lackadaisical play and not showing up mentally ready to play has cost us two games that we very easily could have won."
   The two games Arrow referred to were a 99-88 loss at Montana State on December 6 and last Sunday's 75-67 home loss to Valparaiso.
   The latter game saw A&M-Corpus Christi blow a late lead and go five minutes without scoring a point.
   "I think that one irks me more than anything," said Arrow, whose team returns to the court Saturday night for a rematch with Montana State. "Because of a lack of Division I knowledge, they let a team with a major name in Division I basketball come in here and missed an opportunity to beat them. It was right there, but we didn't have enough big plays from our players."
   The Islanders led, 65-64, with 5:07 to play Sunday, then proceeded to miss five shots from the field, two free-throw attempts and turned the ball over twice, resulting in the eight-point loss to the Crusaders, a four-time NCAA Tournament participant.
   Making matters worse, A&M-Corpus Christi dug itself into an early 11-2 hole after making just 1-of-8 shots to open the game.
   "We were like a deer seeing a light and freezing," Arrow said. "The first five minutes of the game, we froze."
   Though the Islanders have been within striking distance in all four losses, against quality opponents, Arrow takes little consolation.
   "It's easy to sit back and say, well, Valpo has a big name - next," he said. "But we're not going to do that. It was a game we should have won."
   With an entire week to prepare for Saturday night's game against Montana State, A&M-Corpus Christi has stressed defense, devoting as much as 90 percent of practice time to what Arrow believes is the key to future success.
   "When we do that, we have a chance to be a very good team," he said. "Not just a good team, a very good team. I think we've shown people that we can play with the so-called big boys. But can we go beat the big boys? That's a different story."
  
  

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Staff writer Mark Zuckerman can be reached at 886-3747 or by e-mail at zuckermanm@caller.com

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