By JOE ANGOLIA
UALR sports information
UALR head coach Steve Shields announced Monday that junior guard Steven Moore has been dismissed from the men’s basketball team. Moore was suspended from Saturday’s game at North Texas for his actions during the Western Kentucky game on Feb. 19, which included walking off the court midway through the first half.
“I met with Steve this morning and have decided in the best interest of our basketball team to move forward without him. We appreciate Steve’s contributions over the last three years and wish him the best going forward,” said Shields.
“With us being in a race for the overall conference championship, we have a big week ahead of us with games against New Orleans and Louisiana-Lafayette. I know how excited our guys are about the challenge in front of us.”
Moore, the team’s leading scorer at 13.6 points per game, came out of the WKU game with 9:43 left in the first half after a disagreement with Shields.
He left the floor at the 8:10 mark and went to the locker room, only to reemerge with 6:21 on the clock and sit in the stands. He went back to the locker room with 2:52 left in the half, but came back out with the team at the start of the second half.
Moore was named preseason All-Sun Belt Conference prior to the start of the 2008-09 season, and was averaging team highs of 13.6 points and 3.2 assists per game for the Trojans.
He was suspended at the start of the season for conduct detrimental to the team, and missed UALR’s first two games. Following Saturday’s win at North Texas, the Trojans are now 4-0 in games Moore has missed this year.
A native of Little Rock and a North Pulaski graduate, Moore played in 84 games over the past three seasons with 48 starts, and averaged 9.8 points per game for his career.
As a sophomore, Moore led UALR in scoring and assists, averaging 9.9 points and 3.5 assists per game. UALR (20-7, 13-3) closes out the regular season at home this week with games against New Orleans (Feb. 26) and Louisiana-Lafayette (Feb. 28).
The Trojans are currently tied with WKU atop the Sun Belt Conference standings with a 13-3 record in league play.
