Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors talked with the media Wednesday about his team needing to find scoring help for Malica Monk and Chelsea Dungee going down the stretch.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Wednesday
An injured John Nabors talk with Tommy Craft & Nick Mason about the Vandy win, National Signing Day, and What’s Your Beef Wed!
Embery-Simpson’s late shot lifts Hogs past Vanderbilt … in spite of themselves
Credit Arkansas’ 69-66 win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday night to Keyshawn Embery-Simpson.
Oh, the usual names at the top of scoring summary for the Razorbacks were there, but it was the Oklahoma freshman that stepped up and hit the key shot when it was needed most.
And it saved the day for a team that had come back from another stumbling start to take a 10-point lead in the second half … only to see it evaporate.
Fans had seen it before and many in the small, intimate, gathering of 6,347 were squirming in their seats.
It cued what resulted in a dramatic comeback for a team that somehow seems to find ways to keep these nail-biters going.
The Hogs were behind the Commodores when Embery-Simpson got loose when Daniel Gafford was double-teamed and he hit a 3-pointer with 14 seconds left for a 67-66 lead. Mason Jones added a pair of late free throws for the final margin after drawing a charge.
“He turned it down earlier, but he nailed the biggest one,” Mike Anderson said later.
This is now the second game in a row that Embery-Simpson has made a big difference. He scored 16 in Baton Rouge on Saturday in that win, now this.
“Whatever it takes to get the team the win,” he said later. “The shot clock was going down, and I was like, ‘Hey we’ve got to get it up.’ I was confident in shooting it. I felt it coming off my hand and was like, ‘Oh, this has got to be good.’”
Gafford got his 28 points and Isaiah Joe had 18, but it was Embery-Simpson’s shot that nailed down the game for a team that has struggled at times to hit those wide open shots.
“As soon as it left his hand, I knew it was going in,” Joe said after the game. “I had faith whoever took the shot it was going in. It just happened to be him, and I knew it was going in.”
It wasn’t over, even after Jones’ two free throws. Vanderbilt came flying down the court and Matt Ryan got what Commodores coach Bryce Drew called “a good look” at a 3-pointer, but it bounced off the rim, Jalen Harris snatched and took off the other way as the clock ran out.
“They trusted each other and that’s the growth right there,” Anderson said of Gafford’s kicking the ball out. “A lot of teams, the guy with the ball would have said, ‘I need to make the play,’ but Dan did a good job of getting through that double team because they had him sandwiched in there.”
Arkansas was on a four-game SEC winning streak while Vandy was looking for one win after nine straight losses. Both teams ralled from 10-point deficits.
Vanderbilt led 28-18 on Aaron Nesmith’s pull-up jump shot from the lane with under four minutes left in the first half before Joe went on a 3-point scoring binge.
Joe ended a three-minute stretch for the Razorbacks without a field goal with 2:57 left in the first half and drained four 3-pointers to pull the Hogs within one, 35-34, at halftime.
Gafford, who was making just 57 percent of his free throws coming into the game, kept Arkansas in the game early by hitting 8-of-9 from the free-throw line in the first half.
“I don’t want them to have the game plan of ‘hack a Dan,’” Gafford said. “I’ve just been working real hard on my free throws because as y’all can see I haven’t been hitting consecutive free throws down the stretch.”
For the game he hit 10-of-12 and the Hogs as a team were 75 percent, which was a drastic improvement.
The Razorbacks raced to a nine-point lead midway through the second half, then saw the lead evaporate as Vanderbilt’s Joe Toye hit three 3-pointers to help the Commodores go on a 12-2 run to retake the lead.
Vanderbilt’s last lead came with under a minute left when Toye, who had 18 points, hit his fourth 3-pointer of the second half for a 66-64 lead.
It doesn’t get any easier for this team and we’ll find out how much the’ve improved. They hit the road for a game Saturday at South Carolina. It’s the first of three out of four on the road.
But for now, they are on a roll.
We’ll see how long it goes.
Joe, Gafford joined late by Embery-Simpson after rally for win
Arkansas players Isaiah Joe (18 points) and Daniel Gafford (28) were joined late in their press conference by Keyshawn Embery-Simpson, who hit a huge late shot for the lead.
Anderson on defense carrying Razorbacks in win over Vandy
Hogs’ coach Mike Anderson said after the 69-66 win over the Commodores that defense is carrying this team now, but it was Keyshawn Embery-Simpson’s big shot that made the difference.
Vanderbilt’s Drew talks about getting close in loss to Hogs
Commodores coach Bryce Drew talked with the media after the 69-66 loss to Arkansas that forced his team to come back from 10 down after they lost a 10-point lead before falling late.
???? Tuesday Halftime Pod — featuring Rivals’ Nikki Chavanelle
Phil & Tye discuss the Arkansas vs. Vandy game, plus Nikki Chavanelle joins the pod!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
John and Tye talk expectations in 2019, what fans want, and Would You Rather Tuesdays!
ANDY’S NOTES: Morris recruiting walk-ons for a reason, hoops momentum, Pats’ win
Wednesday is getting here fast and early this week, Chad Morris has picked up a flurry of preferred walk-ons.
The odds are long they’ll be instant contributors in game situations, but it looks like Morris is getting players for practice, which is may be as important.
According to coaches who win championships, players do the overwhelming majority of their development in practice and that can only happen when the players they go against are, well, pretty good.
Teams don’t do “good on good,” as Morris calls it, that often. You simply can’t do that in the limited practice time teams have in the world of college football these days. You need position drills to be against really good practice players, which is how nearly every walk-on starts his college career.
Players improve by developing against competition that challenges them. Morris has said this repeatedly and a lot of folks completely miss the point. He wants his starters pushed to improve every day in practice by people who are good enough in a couple of areas to make them perform … or lose their spot.
That was explained by a former Alabama coach when asked about why the emphasis on the Crimson Tide actually recruiting walk-ons.
Apparently this staff subscribes to that theory as well.
As for what’s going to happen Wednesday, the guess here is there will be a surprise or two along the way.
Whether it’s good or bad … who knows?
Anderson made feelings known about officiating
Mike Anderson made it clear Monday afternoon he got his message across to officials in Baton Rouge during Saturday’s game … and he wasn’t going to give details, no matter how many different ways he was asked.
“You don’t need to know everything,” he said with a smile after the third straight question about LSU holding a small parade to the free-throw line in the Hogs’ 90-89 win.
By comparison, Arkansas got a few cursory trips to the line.
Anderson was more interested in talking about how this team is making progress throughout the season.
Despite what some think, which is basically noise he doesn’t pay attention to.
They have now won three straight SEC games, which is something people apparently are completely willing to ignore.
Some fans are restless because this team hasn’t progressed far enough in the NCAA Tournament to suit them, which is sorta mind-boggling. Of course we haven’t gotten close to the tournaments yet and the Lunatic Fringe of the Hogs’ fan base is angling for positions on the bridge to jump off.
In a day and time when just making the tournament is harder than it was 30 years ago, expectations may exceed realistic possibilities. Disagree if you want, but it’s not the same rules or much of anything else in the world of college basketball that it was even 20 years ago.
Let’s face it, Nolan Richardson made the Sweet 16 35 percent of the time. The problem was he piled up his six appearances there in the first 10 years.
By the way, the Hogs haven’t made it there since.
A lot of things changed. Mid-major programs like Gonzaga are getting players that schools like Arkansas used to get. The NCAA Tournament selection folks give more spots to mid-major programs and the Cinderella automatic conference tournament qualifiers muddy the waters now more than ever.
Anderson is winning games at a clip even greater than Richardson’s last seven seasons.
It’s not that bad.
And if you think it is, you need to pay closer attention.
Super Bowl really wasn’t that bad
A lot of people have whined and complained about New England’s win over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday was completely boring and a total disaster.
You don’t know football if you think that.
While I actually prefer watching high-scoring games dominated by teams scoring so fast you wonder if the scoreboard can last, Sunday’s game was a classic.
It may be the best-coached Super Bowl game in a long, long time.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick is drawing a ton of praise for shutting down the Rams’ high-flying offense, too many people are overlooking what Wade Phillips did with a defense that matched them almost drive for drive.
Oh, there were big plays on almost every series … by the defense. The Rams had to keep making big plays because New England was piling up yardage, but couldn’t get into the end zone.
Poor Jared Goff was more confused than a drunk who wakes up in the wrong house for the entire game.
This game was, in many respects, more of an artistic success than some recent high-scoring games.
Especially from a coaching standpoint.
Anderson looks back on win over LSU, Tuesday’s game with Vandy
Hogs’ coach Mike Anderson wouldn’t say Monday afternoon what he said to officials other than he stated his case very clearly and looked ahead to game with Commodores.
