It probably shouldn’t be a complete stunner that Arkansas jumped on Providence early and, for a change, didn’t let go of the rope.
It’s a credit to Mike Anderson and his coaching staff that the Razorbacks were considerably more interested in this game than the Friars … and it showed early.
The Hogs never trailed in an 84-72 win in the opening round of the NIT that never felt as close as the final margin.
Oh, sure, Providence cut the Arkansas lead to single digits on a few occasions, but you never got the idea they were going to make it all the way back, much less get the lead.
Without their leading scorer and rebounder during the regular season, some guys stepped up. Mason Jones led the Hogs on a balanced scoresheet with 18 points, Reggie Chaney scored 14, Isaiah Joe 12 and Gabe Osabuohien 11.
Osabuohien, with his best game of the season, also led the team in rebounding with eight, had a block and a steal. He even hit a 3-pointer. Maybe he needed to move a few feet back like the NIT has done with the 3-point arc.
The Hogs hit their first five 3-point shots and jumped out to a 20-9 lead just seven minutes into the game. Providence made a little six-point run and Arkansas responded with four straight layups.
You wonder if Anderson isn’t better in situations like this. It’s when he seems to do his best coaching. Of course, he’s never had a team anywhere loaded with top-tier recruits, but he’s shown to produce pretty decent results with blue-collar type players.
Joe, who had some eye-popping 3-point numbers during the regular season, was the closest thing to a star on the roster.
What these Hogs did was play with energy from the start, didn’t appear to be sitting back and waiting on one guy to take control … they just did it by committee.
Now we’ll find out if they can put two of these type of games together.
They will play at Indiana on Thursday night. The Hogs slipped past the Hoosiers at Bud Walton Arena in the third game of the season, 73-72.
For at least one game, a team playing in a tournament many have said is a complete waste of time, appeared to be happier about being there than Providence. How the Friars got a higher seed is still baffling, but being on the road didn’t’ exactly seem to bother the Hogs on Tuesday night.
We’ll see if an environment that likely will be larger and more vocal than the small, intimate gathering in Providence.
How this team handles that will be interesting.
