Razorbacks top Auburn on Senior Night, 91-82
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Auburn kept hanging around and there was a dramatic disparity in free shooting performance, but the Razorbacks pulled through on Senior Night to knock off No. 14 Auburn 91-82 Tuesday night in Bud Walton Arena in front of 15,733 in attendance.
Senior guards Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford each went over 1,000 points in their two-year careers out of junior college. Macon scored 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting to get to 1,002 points, and Barford hit 1,003 with a double-double of 20 points and 10 rebounds.
“I wouldn’t want them to come in here and win a conference championship and cut down our nets,” Macon said after the game. “The 1,000-point thing just happened. I actually just found out about it this week. It just happened. Big shout out to my teammates and coach [Mike] Anderson.”
“We came in dialed in and ready to play. I think we lead the whole game.” Barford said. “I love the fans. It’s been a great two years. I wish I could stay another year, aside from the conditioning part.”
Freshman Daniel Gafford may have had the best game of his career with a double-double, as well. Gafford had 21 points on 10 of 15 shooting, 10 rebounds and 7 blocked shots. Gafford had a season-high seven dunks on the night to give him 65 on the year.
“Every time he’s on the court he goes all out,” Macon said. “Daniel stepped up big tonight. He’s a force to be reckon with. He’s the best big man in the country. I haven’t seen anybody better than him when he’s on his game.”
There was a decent balance in the number of personal fouls with Arkansas (21-9, 10-7 SEC) being hit with 20 and Auburn (24-6, 12-5 SEC) hit with 25, but the free throw line kept Auburn in it. Arkansas was just 19 of 30 (63.3 percent) while the Tigers were an incredible 31 of 34 (91.2 percent). There was a stretch of 7 minutes and 35 seconds in the first half where Auburn scored 14 points without a field goal and cut an 11-point Razorback lead to just 2 points, 28-26, when Bryce Brown ended the drought with a layup.
“It was a good team win against a very good basketball team. I thought defensively we really challenged them at the 3-point line. One of the things they do really well is attack, and therefore they get to the free throw line," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said.
Mustapha Heron led Auburn with 28 points, and Jared Harper scored 20. As a team, Auburn was just 22 of 64 from the floor (34.4 percent) while Arkansas was 31 of 59 (52.6 percent). Arkansas was also 10 of 19 from 3-point range (52.6 percent).
“This is a tough conference. We’ve had two tough road games at Florida on Saturday and here,” Harper said. “We just want to put ourselves in position to win the conference. That was our goal the whole season, and it’s right in front of us.”
Arkansas survived several scares, but after taking a 5-3 lead with 18:09 to play in the first half, the Razorbacks led the rest of the way and took a 10-point lead into halftime, 52-42. They came out hot in the second half and took a 19-point lead, 61-42, with 17:48 to play on the 1,000-point 3-pointer by Macon.
Auburn chipped away and got it down to 7 points, 65-58 before the Hogs came back and made it a 15-point game on a rainbow jumper by Arlando Cook with 10:54 to go, 75-60. Despite a 14-point lead with 6:16 to play, 82-68, Arkansas started playing like it was the team with a deficit and let the Tigers claw back to cut the lead to 6 points with 3:05 to play, 84-78.
"They've got to find a way to hit their free throws. If they can do that they're as good as any team in the league," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "Arkansas played really well. They shot it great. They've got so many weapons. They're a team with their seniors and their experience, they're a team that can make a run in the tournament."
Despite continued struggles at the free throw line, Arkansas held on in a final two minutes that seemingly took 20 minutes and the Hogs took a 91-82 victory.
In the first half, Arkansas jumped out to a 10-3 lead and later led 11 points, 27-16, with 9:34 to go on a 3-pointer by Macon. The Hogs surged after that and went on a 17-6 tear to go up by 13 points, 45-32, with 1:15 left. Heron hit a 30-footer at the halftime buzzer for Auburn to cut Arkansas’ lead to 10 points, 52-42.
Arkansas limited Auburn to 11 made field goals and 34.4 percent shooting in the first half. The Razorbacks, led by 13 points from Barford and 11 from Macon, were 17 of 32 in the first half, 53.1 percent. Macon was 3 points shy of 1,000 for his career and Barford was 4 points shy of the mark.
UP NEXT
Up next, the Razorbacks head to Missouri (19-11, 9-8 SEC) to take on the Tigers for the final game of the regular season. Arkansas has now won 6 of 7 games. Arkansas fell in the first meeting with Auburn 88-77 on Jan. 6.
“We got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys,” Anderson said. “This team, I think some special things are in store for this team as we start to pick up some momentum in terms of the way we’re playing.”
SECOND HALF
Coming off a 52-42 halftime lead, Gafford scored the first 6 points of the first half on two dunks and a layup, and then Macon scored on a transition 3-pointer to put the Hogs ahead by 19, 61-42, with 17:48 to play in the game. It was a 9-0 Razorback run to start the half.
Auburn scored the next 7 points to cut the lead down to 12, 61-49, on a 3-point play by Heron. The Tigers cut the Hog lead down to 7 points, 65-58 on a pair of free throws by Harper with 14:06 remaining.
Arlando Cook’s rainbow 17-footer went in and gave him 7 points for the game, which was a season-high. His career high is 9 points. The bucket put Arkansas up by 15, 75-60. A step-back jumper that rattled home gave Barford 1,001 points for his career and put the Hogs back up by 15 points, 80-65, with 8:06 to play in the game. A minute and one second earlier, Barford hit a wide-open 22-footer for 3 to put him at 999.
Auburn cut Arkansas’ lead to 8 points on a pair of free throws from Chuma Okeke with 4:26 to play as Arkansas was playing like they were the team down 14 points. It was an 10-2 stretch for the Tigers to make it an 84-78 game with 3:05 to play on a bucket by Harper.
Arkansas held on in a final two minutes that seemingly took 20 minutes and the Hogs took a 91-82 victory.
FIRST HALF
Auburn jumped out to an early 3-0 lead off three free throw attempts, but Anton Beard jumpstarted a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer with 19:15 to go in the first half as the Hogs took a 10-3 lead with 16:44 to go, a span of 2 minutes and 31 seconds. Gafford entered the game for the first time at the 14:20 mark after the Hogs started senior Trey Thompson in his spot for senior night.
A Macon 3-pointer from the baseline with 9:34 to go made it 27-16 and gave Arkansas their largest lead of the first half at the time, 11 points. Macon led all scorers with 9 points, and Barford had 7 points. It was part of a 9-2 surge for the Hogs over a span of 4 minutes and 46 seconds.
Auburn went scoreless from the floor from the 15:02 mark when Murray made a layup to close Arkansas’ lead to 4 points, 16-12, until a transition layup by Brown to close Arkansas’ lead to 2 points, 28-26, with 7:27 to play – a span of 7 minutes and 35 seconds. Still AU managed to put up 14 points at the free throw line and close what was once an 11-point Razorback lead at the 9:34 mark, 27-16.
The Hogs answered the call after a 30-second timeout by Anderson and scored the next 6 points before going on a 17-6 run to take a 13-point lead, 45-32, with 1:51 to play on a free throw by Gafford. Arkansas’ run lasted 5 minutes and 36 seconds.