Latest Recruiting News
Tracking Arkansas' latest offers
Razorbacks make new 2019 instate offer
No. 12: Ferrell finds home in Fayetteville
Hogs make things interesting for Mason
The Arkansas Razorbacks return to action in Bud Walton Arena Tuesday night with a matchup against Oral Roberts.
The Razorbacks are 8-2 on the year and have won three in a row over Colorado State, Minnesota and Troy by an average margin of 22.3 points per game. During that stretch, Arkansas is averaging 91.7 points per game.
In these past three games, the Hogs have turned the ball over just 20 times, an average of 6.7 times per game (five against Colorado State, nine against Minnesota and six against Troy).
“Eleven is a good number, not 13, 14. That means you’re not taking care of the basketball,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “It’s probably a sign of a team that’s veteran. They valuable the ball…As opposed to making that 50/50 pass, I think they’re making the right pass.”
Senior Daryl Macon is coming off a 25-point effort in the 88-63 win over Troy in North Little Rock Saturday. It was the third time this season Macon has topped the 20-point mark.
“He was actually guarding, pressuring the ball. He was a one-man wrecking crew for about three plays,” Anderson said. “To me that’s just getting familiar with what we’re doing. The first year, you were the do-it-all kind of guy. Now you’re playing with guys who are as good as you.”
Anderson credits the low number of turnovers to having not only three senior guards in the starting lineup but also having a senior big man in Trey Thompson who distributes the ball like a guard.
“You’ve got those three guys out there and Trey out there too. Trey’s like a point guard,” Anderson said. “We’re starting to see more and more guys that are stepping up defensively and also offensively.”
Arkansas is also getting plenty of help from newcomers like freshman big man Daniel Gafford, 12.2 points per game, 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. Gafford is knocking down 69.2 percent of his shots from the floor but has struggled at times at the free throw line and is 59.3 percent on the year. He shot 8 of 8 against Minnesota but went 0 of 3 from the line. And he made it 7-straight misses after missing his first 4 against Troy.
And aside from only putting up 7 points against the Trojans, senior Jaylen Barford has scored in double figures in every game this season. While he had an off night shooting, just 2 of 11, he found other ways to get involved and pulled down 7 rebounds to go with 5 assists.
ORU coach Paul Mills is a former Baylor assistant and has the Golden Eagles 4-9 in his first season. Sophomore guard Emmanuel Nzekwesi is coming off Summit League Player of the Week honors after putting up 24 points and 11 rebounds in their win over Florida Gulf Coast.
Senior Golden Eagles center Albert Owens, like Nzekwesi, was a preseason all-conference pick. He just topped the 1,000 point mark in a career and also has 462 career rebounds.
“They mirror what Baylor does. They’ve got some big guys, size guys,” Anderson said. “It’s a team with size. And we’ve got to make sure that we emphasize rebounding the basketball. I think our defense has been really, really good, but rebounding is the end of defense.”
After the game, the players will have an opportunity to return home for the holidays before getting back to action in a week against CSU Bakersfield on Dec. 27.
