Joe shares SEC Player of Week honors after big game at Indiana
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas sophomore Isaiah Joe was selected the SEC Co-Player of the Week after leading the 11-1 Razorbacks to a win at Indiana. Joe shared the honor with Kentucky’s Nick Richards.
Joe scored 24 points and added five rebounds as the Razorbacks claimed their first ever road win at a Big Ten member (now 1-7).
• Joe played all 20 minutes of the second half and scored 18 points in the period. He helped Arkansas overcome a 38-33 halftime deficit, an 11-point deficit with 16 minutes to play and a 9-point deficit with eight minutes remaining.
• With Arkansas down 11, Joe scored 15 or Arkansas’ final 32 points as the Razorbacks closed the game on a 32-14 run, including a 19-3 run over the final eight minutes.
• First, Joe made three 3-pointers to trim Arkansas’ 11-point deficit to two.
• Later, with Arkansas down nine, Joe hit a turnaround jumper on the right elbow to tie the game, 61-61.
• Joe sealed the win by going 4-of-4 at the free throw line over the final 27 seconds.
• Joe recorded his seventh game this season with at least five rebounds.
Joe drained six 3-pointers in the game, including four in the second half, to give him 158 triples in his 46-game career to move him to ninth on the school’s all-time 3-pointers made list.
He passed Dusty Hannahs, who made 155 3-pointers in 68 career games over two seasons (2015-17). Next on the list is Eric Ferguson, who made 160 3’s in 117 career games over four seasons (2002-06).
This is the third SEC Player of the Week honor by a Razorback this season as Mason Jones was tabbed after scoring 32 in a season-opening win over Rice and scoring a career-high 41 in a win over Tulsa.
Arkansas returns to a sold-out Bud Walton Arena to open SEC play as the Razorbacks host Texas A&M on Saturday.
The game is set for 6 p.m. and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Hogs win at Indiana significant on different levels & could set up big January
If Arkansas earns an NCAA Tournament berth this year, they might well point back to a Sunday night in Bloomington, Indiana.
The 71-64 win over the Hoosiers wrapped up the non-conference part before the league schedule was big for multiple reasons. They’ll play TCU later in January.
The Hogs trailed by as many as 11 points in the second half to the Hoosiers (11-2) in front of a packed house at venerable Assembly Hall. Just as Indiana was about to slam the door on Arkansas, the Razorbacks used a 19-3 run the final 7:49 to pick up first-year UA Coach Eric Musselman’s biggest win this season.
“It’s a real big win,” Hogs sophomore guard Isaiah Joe, who paced the Razorbacks with 24 points, told the media following the game. “To be able to bring this win back to Fayetteville, you have to cherish moments like these.”
The win has all kinds of significance.
First, the historical. The win marks the first time Arkansas has won a road game against a Big 10 opponent since the 1949-50 season when it won 65-53 win at Illinois and 75-50 win at Indiana.
The Hogs have been 0-7 since that time. The win also avenged a 63-60 loss to the Hoosiers at Bloomington in the NIT last season, former coach Mike Anderson’s final game at the helm.
A neat stat, sure, but really just a fun fact footnote.
Here’s the meat of this win. This win proves Arkansas CAN win SEC road games and WILL earn an NCA Tournament berth.
The impressive part was not only with winning, but how they won, coming back from a significant second-half deficit.
Arkansas hit 12 of 31 three-pointers and Mason Jones was clutch, hitting 3-balls on back-to-back possessions late in the game to fuel the win.
Arkansas was picked 11th in the preseason SEC poll. What Musselman has shown over the past 12 games is he has improved every player on the roster individually, and he can outcoach and out-prepare the opponent.
That’s what I figured when I predicted Arkansas would need a win or two in the SEC Tournament to get off the NCAA Tournament bubble.
That was bold at that point. Now, there is reason to think Musselman’s crew could be in the upper echelon of the conference.
Playing in front of nearly 15,000 fans at Assembly Hall will be tougher than most SEC venues. The crowd was really getting loud midway through the second half. It looked like IU was going to blow the game open.
“In the huddles, there wasn’t any panic,” Musselman told the media. “I probably got on the guys less tonight than I have all year. At halftime I got on them less. We were calmer in all of our huddles.
“I thought they were giving great effort. I thought if we just hung around and tried to get [other] guys on their roster to take shots instead of some of the guys that were hurting us that maybe the tide could change if we knocked down a few threes.”
And that will be the recipe to winning on the road in the SEC, too. Musselman gained this team’s trust early. The chemistry and bond is strong.
That’s remarkable with a first-year coach, but it probably goes back to his lengthy past of coaching in the NBA and other stops as to how to build that rapport. Whatever the case, the coach knows this team, and it has paid off so far.
The other reason the win is important is because of what it could mean on Selection Sunday. Indiana is primed for a good run in the rugged Big 10 and will have a good chance of a tournament berth.
That will help Arkansas in the committee’s eyes.
The Hogs’ nonconference schedule hasn’t been extremely tough, but they won two of the tougher games on the schedule — at Georgia Tech and Indiana.
The win couldn’t have come at a better time as Arkansas welcomes Texas A&M to a sold-out Bud Walton Arena for the SEC opener Saturday.
The Aggies are struggling under first-year coach Buzz Williams. Among the losses are a 62-51 loss to Harvard and a 65-42 blowout to Temple, and a 67-62 setback to Fairfield — all at the Orlando Invitational last month.
A&M has won back-to-back games with Texas Southern coming into College Station on Monday night, but Arkansas will be favored.
In the past, Arkansas has had trouble getting out of the gates of the SEC slate.
The A&M game should continue the momentum of the Indiana win, and then two good road tests against LSU and Ole Miss before returning home for Vanderbilt and Kentucky, respectively.
January sets up for a good start if the Hogs can play well at LSU and Ole Miss.
Joe, Jones key late run by Hogs to 71-64 win at Indiana on Sunday night
Yes, this Arkansas team can go on the road and win a game.
With a 19-3 run over the last 7:49 of the game, the Razorbacks found a way to pull out a 71-64 win over Indiana in Bloomington, Ind., on Sunday night and finished the early non-conference part of the schedule at 11-1.
And they did all that after figuring out a way to combat the Hoosiers’ size advantage and inside dominance, plus Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones got hot from the outside.
Joe going 4-of-4 at the free-throw line in the final minute also sealed any chance of Indiana finding a way to come back late.
The Hogs trailed by 11 with 16:41 to play before clawing their way back into the game by forcing the Hoosiers to keep turning the ball over. They didn’t help their cause by going just 9-of-18 from the free-throw line.
Joe led Arkansas with 24 points, but it was back-to-back 3-pointers by Jones with less than three minutes to play that opened a 67-62 lead and they held it the rest of the way. Jones had 21 for the game.
Indiana guard Al Durham, averaging 12.2 points a game coming in, got thrown out with 7:18 to go in the first half for throwing an elbow that landed flush on Adrio Bailey’s mouth.
Instant replay showed what none of the officials saw live, a Flagrant 2 foul. Hogs coach Eric Musselman had pushed for a review because apparently nobody noticed it as it was away from the ball.
The Hoosiers could have used Durham the rest of the way.
Desi Sills scored 10 points for the Hogs before fouling out late. Arkansas was 25-of-62 from the field and 12-of-31 on 3-pointers.
Joe (6), Jones (4) and Sills (2) accounted for all of Arkansas’ made 3-pointers.
It was the second time Arkansas had beaten Indiana over the last two seasons, winning a one-point nailbiter in Fayetteville last November before losing in the NIT.
Now it’s on to the SEC schedule and it starts with Texas A&M on Saturday at 6 p.m. at a sold-out Bud Walton Arena.
And the Hogs will do it coming off a hot non-conference start to the season.
Neighbors after win over UT-Martin on new football coach needing red jacket
Before Arkansas’ game with Tennessee-Martin, new football coach Sam Pittman talked with Hogs coach Mike Neighbors about the red jacket he was sporting during the game.
Neighbors surprised at getting another blowout win in non-conference
Heading into the SEC opener against Texas A&M this week, Hogs coach Mike Neighbors was surprised after a 50-point win over a good UT-Martin on Sunday.
Tolefree, Dungee on Hogs’ 50-point win over Skyhawks on Sunday
Arkansas players Alexis Tolefree (23 points, 3 assists) and Chelsea Dungee (16 points, 5 rebounds) after 96-46 win over Tennessee-Martin and difference this year.
Tolefree, Dungee pace Razorbacks to big win over Tennessee-Martin
FAYETTEVILLE — No. 20 Arkansas finished the non-conference schedule strong Sunday afternoon, beating UT Martin (4-7), 96-46, in the last game of the decade.
The Hogs have now won seven straight heading into conference play, the longest winning streak for the Hogs since the fall of 2016.
Alexis Tolefree once again led the way for the Razorbacks, going for a career-best 23 points against the Skyhawks.
The senior guard did most of her damage from beyond the arc, going six of 12 from deep. Three others joined Tolefree in double-figures, as Chelsea Dungee went for 16, Amber Ramirez went for 14 and A’Tyanna Gaulden went for 12.
Defensively, coach Mike Neighbors’ squad had very active hands, recording 18 steals, the most since the Hogs posted 20 against Oral Roberts back in 2013.
Turning point
The Razorbacks led by 10 after the first quarter, but went on a quick 12-0 run early in the second quarter to put the game away.
The Skyhawks got the first points of the second period, then Arkansas scored the next 12 straight to make it a 33-13 game with 7:19 to play in the second.
Four different Hogs scored on the run: Gaulden (4), Ramirez (3), Dungee (3) and Thomas (2).
HOG highlights
• Tolefree has now scored 20 or more points in four of her last five outings. Her six treys matched a career-high.
• Taylah Thomas led the Hogs in rebounding, pulling down nine boards against the Skyhawks.
• Gaulden continues to light it up off the bench, as she reached double-figures for the fourth straight contest.
• Makayla Daniels distributed the ball well, going for a career-high six assists.
• Kiara Williams played her best game of the season, going for a season-high eight points to go along with two blocks.
• Freshman center Destinee Oberg made her Razorback debut, playing just over four minutes, recording her first-career block.
Next time out
The Razorbacks open conference play on Thursday, as No. 11 Texas A&M comes to Bud Walton Arena.
Tip-off is set for 8:05 p.m., and the game will be available on SECN+ and will also be featured on SEC Network’s whiparound coverage.
Hogs’ wide receiver arrested over holiday for DWI in Sharp County
Wide receiver Deon Stewart was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated early Saturday morning in Sharp County, where his northeast Arkansas hometown of Hardy is located.
According to multiple reports, Stewart was driving left of center and booked around 4:17 a.m. before being released on bond at 10:56 a.m. He has a court date set for Jan. 17.
He missed the entire 2019 season with a knee injury but is expected to try for a sixth year for a position that is talented, but very young.
Stewart caught 57 passes for 616 yards and three touchdowns over four seasons, including 33 catches for 404 yardsin 2017, when he was the second-leading receiver on the team.
Playoff coaches show there’s no single path to predict success
Based on the resumes of coaches in the College Football Playoff and recent history, Arkansas fans might not need to be too critical of the hiring of Sam Pittman earlier this month.
Maybe the only constant among them is they WANTED the job guiding the program they have.
Apparently nobody really wanted the Razorbacks’ job. Hunter Yurachek talked to some, but they were reportedly not that interested unless there was a guaranteed retirement option.
That means, simply, they either didn’t view the situation in Fayetteville as something they weren’t going to risk their future trying to turn around unless they made enough money they didn’t have to get a job.
One thing about Yurachek’s incentive-based buy-out plan was it sorted out the pretenders from the contenders pretty quick. It’s a good guess he’d figured out that no coach hired by the Hogs in over a decade really WANTED to be in Fayetteville.
In hindsight, that point is not really debatable. Bobby Petrino just wanted out of the NFL, John L. Smith just needed the money, Bret Bielema wanted away from his boss and Chad Morris simply wanted a Power 5 job.
None of them really knew or cared about Arkansas, which was reflected in their diminished interest with each passing year.
At least Pittman viewed the Razorbacks as a destination job, not a stepping stone.
For some fans, they were ready to throw up their hands when Lane Kiffin decided the Ole Miss job was better than the Hogs.
Yes, things have gotten to that point.
Yurachek may have figured out the main thing might be finding someone who just really wanted the Arkansas job. That was Pittman.
What most fans don’t want to look at is there’s no rhyme or reason these days to hiring a football coach that will be successful.
Just look at the guys in the College Football Playoff that started Saturday. Three of the four coaches have never been a head coach anywhere other than where they are and the one that took over a program and had three rather forgettable seasons.
Two of the four had never even been a coordinator before becoming a head coach. The two coaches in the championship game got there by getting someone to fix the side of the ball they didn’t know well.
All four were Power 5 conference champions with one loss among all four teams in the playoff.
Compare these guys to Pittman:
Dabo Swinney, Clemson: Only a receivers and tight ends coach at Alabama, then Clemson before taking over when Tommy Bowden threw his hands up and quit in the middle of the 2008 season. He promptly fired the offensive coordinator, took it over built a team that has been a national powerhouse since 2015. He got Brent Venables to put together a defense that’s been a big key to the Tigers’ run.
Ryan Day, Ohio State: Bounced around as a receivers and quarterbacks coach with a couple of stints as a coordinator for 15 years before landing on Urban Myer’s staff in 2017. He inherited a good situation, but hasn’t let it slip. He hasn’t messed around with the defense, but now we find out as he has to replace his coordinator.
Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma: Was an offensive coordinator at East Carolina before coming to Norman, then Bob Stoops suddenly quit and handed him the team. He hasn’t let it drop off any, although fans would like to see them win a playoff game. Riley, who is a common name tossed out for NFL openings, has to find someone to fix a defense that struggles to stop anybody.
Ed Orgeron, LSU: Was hired at Ole Miss and promptly found himself not knowing how to swim and jumping into the deep end of the pool. He changed his mindset and lifestyle while working his way back up, landing the Tigers’ job by selling himself when Les Miles was fired and may have the best team in school history right now. A career defensive coach, Orgeron figured out the Miles’ offensive approach wouldn’t work and he’s gotten it fixed in record-setting fashion.
Pittman, a lifelong assistant, has been on playoff staffs and he’s worked in some really, really bad situations (John Blake’s staff at OU in 1997-98 and Derek Dooley’s last year at Tennessee come to mind immediately).
The thing is, a lot of those assistants learn from seeing where others fell flat on their face, crashing top-tier programs into a mess that, admittedly, wasn’t as bad as the current one with the Hogs.
But the key is, his overall experience and depth of knowledge from good and bad programs might be exactly what is needed in Fayetteville.
Morris recognized how far things were off from the direction he wanted to go, but he’d never been around anything like that at the SEC level. He didn’t have a clue how to even begin fixing things.
It looked in practice like he was more concerned with doing things wrong in a hurry than getting the offense fixed and had knee-jerk reactions on personnel decisions.
Pittman has been at programs bigger than Arkansas. He knows to win here, though, you can’t do things the same way they were done at Oklahoma, Tennessee or even Georgia. He’s coached at a championship caliber in the last couple of years.
The Razorback situation is different from those and if you think it will be fixed the same way those were, then you are wrong. The guess is Pittman knows this, too.
It can be turned around and it might not take as long as some of you think, either. By the way, that’s winning enough games to get to a bowl game, not making the playoff.
But don’t fall into the trap that there’s only one path to being successful.
