Ecclesia College will play against NCAA Division 1 opponent, and member of the Southland Conference, University of Central Arkansas in 2013.  University of Central Arkansas is Coach Smith's alma mater, where he was a 4-year member of the men's basketball team.  Coach Smith recently departed Central Arkansas as Director of Basketball Operations to begin as Head Coach at Ecclesia College.  

Smith will square off against his former head coach, Corliss Williamson in an early December matchup.  The game will feature the fast paced style of play that the Bears of Central Arkansas have built their program around, a style that Smith plans to bring to the Royals basketball program.

"It will be a great opportunity for our team to play against some of the top talent in the state of Arkansas.  It will also be a chance for us to see where we are headed as a program in terms of style of play."

The Royals played Central Arkansas in the 2011-2012 season and lost by a final score of 90-75.  Three Royals return from that team including Junior guard Brandon Brzozkiewicz who tallied 18 points and 3 assists while putting on a 3-point shooting clinic in the final 5 minutes of the game.  Brzozkiewicz finished the game with 5 three pointers.

"I know the guys will be excited to play a Divison 1 opponent, especially the guys that had the opportunity to play them a couple of years ago.  That team definitely did not go down withot a fight!"

When asked about how to prepare for such an opponent, Coach Smith responded by saying:

"One thing I know for certain is that Coach Williamson will have his guys in shape!  Our first key to winning that game is to prepare ourselves physically for the endurance we are going to need, not just to compete against UCA, but to have success through our entire season.  We will have a very important pre-seaon ahead of us and I think the guys are just as excited as I am to get started."

The Bears will return 9 players from last season including All-Conference guard LaQuentin Miles who averaged 15.4ppg, 5.1rpg, and 3.6apg.

The Royals will continue to announce the 2013-2014 schedule as it is finalized.  The final schdule will be released and posted to the website  in August.

GO ROYALS!