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Arkansas lands walk-on receiver Ausley
Projected offensive depth chart & more
Arkansas played solid perimeter defense and got big performances from senior guards Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford as the Razorbacks beat the South Carolina Gamecocks 81-65 Tuesday evening in Bud Walton Arena.
Macon and Barford went for respective point totals of 25 and 24 points, and the Hogs limited South Carolina to 6 of 18 shooting from 3-point range (33.3 percent). Last time out against LSU on Saturday in Baton Rouge, the Tigers went 15 of 20 from beyond the arc and beat the Hogs 94-86. Additionally, Arkansas was solid at the free throw line against USC with a 23 of 29 effort (79.3 percent).
“You can’t foul 23 times and turn it over 18 and expect to win anything, much less an SEC road game,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin said after the game. “Had nothing to do with the full-court press. I don’t think we turned it over but twice against the full-court press…then all we did was foul, all we did was foul.”
Arkansas (16-8, 5-6 SEC) led the final 29 minutes and 11 seconds of the game, thanks in large to two big runs. Arkansas used an 11-2 carryover run from the first half to the second to go up 10 points with 18:54 to play, 48-38. Then they put together a 13-2 run to put it away with a 17-point advantage with 6:09 left, 56-73.
“That’s the team I saw earlier in the year, and it was good to see us resemble that,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “Our guys had fun tonight. I thought they played the game the right way…I thought it was a good team win. I thought our guys rose to the occasion and did a good job of having patience.”
Macon was only 5 of 12 from the floor but knocked down 12 of 13 attempts from the free throw line. It was his sixth-straight game with at least 20 points, something only Corliss Williamson (1992-95) has done at Arkansas (over eight games in 1994). Barford scored 15 of his 24 points with a 5 of 9 effort from 3-point distance. The Hogs were 25 of 53 on field goals (47.2 percent), 8 of 20 from downtown (40 percent) and 23 of 29 from the free throw line (79.3 percent).
“When we play like we played tonight, we can beat whoever we’re playing. Tonight, we got back to our old ways, defense first and offense second,” Macon said. “We wouldn’t be able to do the things we’re doing without our teammates.”
“I thought they played pretty hard. They’re always pressing” Gamecock freshman guard Justin Minaya said. “During that (13-2) stretch I thought we stopped playing together as much and things fell apart and they went on a run. It was kind of hard to stop that run because they were at home.”
Freshman guard Hassani Gravett led the Gamecocks with 12 points and 7 rebounds. South Carolina (13-11, 4-7 SEC) was 21 of 51 from the floor (41.2 percent), 6 of 18 from downtown (33.3 percent) and 17 of 20 from the free throw line (85 percent). Arkansas limited standout Chris Silva to 8 points and 6 rebounds on just 1 of 5 shooting.
The Hogs also won the turnover battle 18-13, and that led to a 26-11 advantage in points off turnovers. South Carolina had a 33-29 rebounding advantage, but Arkansas blocked seven South Carolina shot attempts.
“We lead the country in getting our shots blocked,” Martin said. “If you want to gain confidence in your defense, play us”
“We finally brought our practice to the game. Brought a lot of defensive energy, got a lot of stops,” Barford said. “Coach always emphasizes we’ve got to feed off each other. It’s hard for opponents to guard us. You’ve just got to pick your poison.”
Due to icy road conditions, attendance was down for this one with just 7,089 showing up for the game. The paid attendance was 14,956.
“It felt good to be back at home. It feels like forever it seems like. We know the crowd was down tonight, but whoever was here still helped us,” Macon said.
Razorback senior forward Dustin Thomas was available but did not play, Anderson said. Thomas started last time out and has started several games this season. This was the first SEC home game in 17 days for Arkansas.
SECOND HALF
Arkansas carried a 6-2 finish in the second half and built it out to an 11-2 run and a 48-38 lead. The 10-point margin was the largest of the game at that time for Arkansas. The 5-0 start to the second half came on a deep 3-pointer from Macon in front of the high-priced seats as the shot clock expired and on a dunk by Daniel Gafford, who finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
From the 16:21 mark of the second half on a put-back by Trey Thompson to put Arkansas up 7 points, 53-46, Arkansas outscored the Gamecocks 8-0 to take a 13-point lead, 59-46 with 13:21 remaining, a 3-minute spurt.
The Hogs took a 69-54 lead on three free throws by Macon out of the third media timeout with 7:47 to play as part of a 9-0 Razorback run. Arkansas pushed it out to a 13-2 run after back-to-back dunks from Gafford and Barford with 6:09 remaining. The run lasted 3 minutes and 55 seconds and pretty much put the game away.
FIRST HALF
It was a fairly even battle out of the second media timeout of the first half with 11:48 to play as Arkansas held a 20-19 lead off a pair of free throws by Barford. South Carolina was 63.6 percent from the floor, and while Arkansas had as many made field goals, seven, USC was 3 of 5 from 3-point range while the Hogs were 0 of 3. Arkansas was 6 of 8 at the free throw line while USC was 2 of 2 to start things out.
Starting with those free throws, Barford went off and scored all 11 of his points at that time in the span of 3 minutes and 25 seconds. That stretch included three straight 3-point buckets on three attempts as he scored all 11 of Arkansas’ points during an 11-4 run. It put Arkansas up 6 points, 29-23 with 8:06 to play. Soon after, the Razorbacks took their largest lead of the first half, 8 points, on a 3-point play by Macon to make it 32-24.
After Arkansas took a 26-23 lead on Barford’s 3-pointer with 9:11 to play in the first half, the Hogs never trailed again the rest of the half. When Arkansas pushed it out to 8 points, 32-24, with 7:28 left, South Carolina slowly chipped away at the lead and got it down to a 1-point game at the 5:38 mark, 34-33, and at the 2:25 mark, 37-36. The Razorbacks closed it out 6-2 to take a 43-38 lead into halftime.
UP NEXT...
Up next, the Razorbacks host Vanderbilt (8-15, 2-8 SEC) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Bud Walton Arena. Vanderbilt is in last place in Southeastern Conference play and are 2-7 in their last nine games. Their wins include a home victory over LSU, 77-71, and another against Alabama, 76-75. The Commodores host Georgia (13-9, 4-6 SEC) at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
