Aggies’ (and former Razorbacks) coach Gary Blair talked about being glad to get game with Hogs out of the way right off the bat in the SEC because this “will be an NCAA Tournament team.”
Razorbacks Dungee, Tolefree recapping Thursday’s night loss to Texas A&M
Arkansas players Chelsea Dungee (20 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists) and Alexis Tolefree (18 points, 4 rebvounds) talked about the problems the team had in the 84-77 loss.
Texas A&M players after pulling out win over Razorbacks on Thursday night
Aggies Chennedy Carter (28 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists) and N’dea Jones (22 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists) recapped their performance in the victory over the Hogs.
Ahead of SEC opener, Hogs’ Musselman talks about competitiveness of league
Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman talked after practice Thursday about how the 11-1 record doesn’t mean a thing playing in the competitive SEC.
Whitt on Razorbacks adapting to get rebounds despite size difference
Arkansas’ Jimmy Whitt, Jr., talked after practice Thursday about how they are always prepared, especially to get rebounds despite being undersized ahead of Saturday’s league opener with Texas A&M.
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Briles’ handling at QB spot, offense, will tell us if lack of talent an issue
Sam Pittman has probably spent most waking moments since taking over as Arkansas’ football coach recruiting either players or — maybe more importantly — assistant coaches.
Most feel he’s done a pretty fair job at that getting Barry Odom for the defense and Kendal Briles on the offensive side of things.
Both will inherit probably more talent than even a lot of Razorback fans don’t want to admit is on the team. If Chad Morris did anything positive it was redshirting so many talented freshmen off last year’s recruiting class.
Pittman has been around long enough to know he can compensate for that by developing them and keeping them around. There is a natural rate of players leaving for whatever reason, especially with the transfer portal these days.
The Hogs haven’t had any sort of consistent coaching in since the 2015 season. It’s not a coincidence that’s about the time Pittman had all he could take of Bret Bielema’s ego and half-hearted approach to things.
This roster isn’t 4-20 bad.
No, that doesn’t mean this team could have contended for even the SEC West title but I had a longtime SEC coach tell me one time a few years ago that any team in the league should be able to win one game a season — even by accident — unless he doesn’t know how to win.
It’s interesting to note that’s not always a terminal affliction because the SEC coach being discussed at the time was Ed Orgeron, who managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on several occasions in 2007 before getting canned.
As Bill Belichick and Nick Saban discussed on an HBO special that was like crack for football fans, they agreed that great players simply can’t overcome bad coaching. It wasn’t hard to wonder if they had Arkansas in mind when they said that.
The guess here is we’re going to find out if those highly-touted freshmen can be coached up to play their ability.
Especially at quarterback.
Freshman K.J. Jefferson was rated as the best high school quarterback in Mississippi and the guy rated behind him ended up starting at Ole Miss for much of this past season.
It was hard to tell if Jefferson’s inconsistency in the limited practice time the media could see was due to his talent or just bad coaching. Morris seemed more intent on doing things halfway in a hurry than just getting it right, then doing that faster.
Folks in Dallas told me when Joe Craddock was hired as offensive coordinator that was going to get Morris fired eventually.
That turned out to be two years and it may be awhile before we find out if it was John Chavis’ coaching or Morris over-ruling decisions on that side of the ball that led to the Hogs not being able to stop anybody.
But Jefferson and how Briles handles him is going to be interesting to watch. The offensive line will be improved almost immediately just from quality coaching.
This is going to be an interesting spring practice from that standpoint. Briles’ reputation indicates we’ll know pretty quickly if Jefferson is the real deal or not.
With bowl games winding down Pittman will begin completing his staff. There is chatter about possibly a current Georgia assistant joining the Hogs and it’s a good bet that’s been the delay in putting a staff together.
That means, of course, Pittman is looking for guys that know how to win.
Despite starting 12-1, Neighbors ‘still worried’ about things heading into SEC opener
Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors talked Thursday after practice and said despite the hot start during the non-conference games, he listed all the things he’s worried about before the league opener against Texas A&M on Thursday night.
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.
