FAYETTEVILLE — It took nearly 38 minutes, but Arkansas finally put away Northern Iowa and came away with a victory Wednesday night.
The Razorbacks were in a dogfight most of the game until using a 13-0 run down the stretch to beat the Panthers 93-80 inside Bud Walton Arena. They are now 3-0 entering the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City.
Northern Iowa was actually up with three minutes remaining, taking the lead on a 3-pointer by AJ Green, before Jaylin Williams made a couple of shots at the rim sandwiched around a corner 3 by Au’Diese Toney.
Those buckets turned Arkansas’ one-point deficit into a six-point lead and put the Panthers into foul mode. Thanks to making 9 of 10 free throws in the final 63 seconds, the Razorbacks ended up outscoring Northern Iowa 25-5 after falling behind by three with 4:25 left.
“I don’t know if it’s a word, but we have a lot of spurtability at times,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “I mean, we’ve proven now that we can come at you real quick, and strike, and go on a 13-0 run or go on a 25-5 run.”
Arkansas committed just five turnovers on its 72 possessions and led for more than half of the game despite the Panthers hitting 17 3-pointers, tying the UA record for most ever by an opponent.
The performance left Northern Iowa’s veteran coach, Ben Jacobson, believing the Razorbacks were definitely worthy of their No. 16 ranking in the AP Poll.
“Watching on film and playing against them tonight,” Jacobson said, “I believe they will be ranked in the Top 20 all years long, a team that will be at the top of the SEC and be in the NCAA Tournament with a chance to win several games again.”
Here are several key takeaways from the win…
Notae’s Complete Game
For a moment Wednesday night, JD Notae flirted with notching the third triple-double in UA history. In the end, though, the senior guard couldn’t quite join Alvin Robertson and Courtney Fortson in that exclusive club.
Instead, Notae had to settle for 17 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Even though his 3-point shot wasn’t falling, going 1 of 7 from beyond the arc, he was still an efficient 7 of 14 from the floor, as he blew by his defender for layups multiple times.
“He was just phenomenal in every facet offensively and defensively,” Jacobson said. “He is a heck of a player. We knew that coming in and he lived up to the hype. He is just a fantastic all-around player that deserves all the hype.”
With point guard play a hot topic during the early portion of the season, Notae answered the bell as a passer against Northern Iowa.
His nine assists were two more than he’s ever had at Arkansas and were one shy of his career high that he set while playing at Jacksonville in 2019. Six of them came after Davonte Davis was ejected and Notae was asked to slide into the primary ball-handler role.
“I thought JD as a distributor, they kind of hung their big defender with him and he drug their big guy away from the rim a little bit as they tried to soft trap him, so to speak,” Musselman said. “Instead of forcing the issue, he made the extra pass."
Notae also had a pair of steals, including one just inside the final minute that helped Arkansas further ice the victory. He was fouled immediately and Musselman got up in his face to hype him up after the play.
Through three games, Notae has 11 of Arkansas’ 25 total steals and he has multiple in each game. Dating back to the final two weeks of the regular season last year, he has multiple steals in 10 of 13 games and is averaging 2.5. His defense is lightyears better than it was the first half of last season and Musselman now puts him up there with Davis in terms of being a top defender on the team.
“All of non-conference, I felt like he really had to improve as an individual defender and a team defender,” Musselman said. “Right now, he's probably as good as anyone we have on our roster as a team defender, and now he's turning into a go-to defender and stopper for us.”
