Phil and Tye discuss the Georgia win, TNA, plus Kevin McPherson joins the pod!
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Wednesday
John & Tommy discuss the Georgia win, free throw shooting, their beefs and more!
Key shots down stretch, defense lifts Hogs to second straight SEC win
FAYETTEVILLE — With the game tied 52-52 and 6:23 left in the game, Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Arkansas never looked back in a 70-60 victory over Georgia on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena.
The 3-pointer by Joe was his only made field goal in the game. Jones not only led the team with 23 points, but he tied for the team lead with six rebounds and led the team with four assists.
The Razorbacks won their second straight SEC game despite being out-rebounded by 24 (56-32). However, Arkansas only committed four turnovers – the third-lowest total ever by the Razorbacks – and blocked 14 shots – the most by the Razorbacks in an SEC game and fourth-most all-time.
Arkansas got a basket at the buzzer by Jalen Harris to take a two-point lead at halftime (31-29). Arkansas rode that momentum to start the second half, leading by five (36-31) after a Gabe Osabuohien 3-pointer.
The Bulldogs fought back and took a one-point lead, 41-40, after a Nicolas Claxton 3-pointer at the 13:47 mark. The Razorbacks answered with a run of their own and led by seven (52-45) after a Daniel Gafford Dunk with 8:32 left. However, Georgia rallied to tie the game at 52-52 n a 3-pointer by William Jackson III.
From that point, Jones and Joe took over. Georgia temporarily got to within four, but Harris had a layup and Reggie Chaney blocked a shot on one end before racing down to convert a layup on the other to give Arkansas a 62-54 lead with 2:08 remaining.
Arkansas made 7-of-10 free throws inside the final 1:34 to secure the win.
Harris scored 13 points and had two blocked shots while Gafford added 11 points and four rejections. Chaney contributed six points, six rebounds and a career-high five blocked shots.
Arkansas returns to the road to play at #19 LSU on Saturday (Feb 2. Tip-off set for 5 pm and the game will be telecast on the SEC Network.
FIRST HALF: Arkansas 31 – Georgia 29
• Georgia got off to an 11-2 start, but the Razorbacks answered with a 12-3 run to tie the game, 14-14 at 9:55.
• The Razorbacks took their first lead, 22-21, on a Mason Jones layup at 5:27. The Bulldogs regained the lead, but Jones answered with a jumper in the lane as the shot clock expired to put Arkansas back on top, 24-23.
• Jones ended a 2:57 scoring drought by the Razorbacks with a fast-break layup. Despite the drought, Arkansas only trailed by one, 27-26.
• Jones tied the game, 29-29, on a 3-pointers with 23 seconds left.
• Jalen Harris had a steal and lay-up with two seconds left to give Arkansas a 31-29 halftime lead.
• Mason Jones led Arkansas with 15 first-half points.
SECOND HALF: Arkansas held Georgia to 28.2 percent shooting.
• Arkansas had nine of its 14 assists and nine of its 14 blocked shots in the second half.
• Arkansas’ starters were Isaiah Joe (G) – Jalen Harris (G) – Mason Jones (G) – Adrio Bailey (F) – Daniel Gafford (F). This has been Arkansas’ starting lineup in 18 of its 20 games.
• Georgia controlled the tip. The Bulldogs’ Nicolas Claxton scored the first points of the game, a layup at 19:40. Adrio Bailey scored the first points for Arkansas, a jumper at the 18:19 mark.
• Arkansas owns a 23-15 advantage in the all-time series with Georgia, is 11-3 versus the Bulldogs in Fayetteville and has won seven of the last nine including three straight.
• Isaiah Joe and Gabe Osabuohien each took charges, giving them 15 and 14, respectively, this season to rank 1-2 on the team. Arkansas has taken 40 charges through 20 games and had 47 in 35 games last season.
• Desi Sills hit a 3-pointer to cut Arkansas deficit to two, 12-10. It was his first 3-pointer made since he scored a career-high 14 at Texas A&M (Jan. 5), snapping an 0-for-7 drought from long-range.
• Jalen Harris hit a basket at three straight buzzers. At Texas Tech, he hit a 3-pointer inside the mid-court line to end the first half and give Arkansas a 33-30 lead. He also hit a layup to end the game to provide the 67-64 final in the Red Raiders favor. Versus Georgia, Harris got a steal and layup with two seconds left to give Arkansas a 31-29 lead at the break.
• As a team, Arkansas made a basket at the buzzer to end the first half in each of the last three games. In addition to Harris’ two buzzer beaters at the half, Daniel Gafford made a basket at the buzzer versus Missouri to make the score 34-32 in the Tigers favor.
• Mason Jones has led the team in scoring seven times this season, led the team in rebounding three times and led the team in assists six times. This is the second time Jones has led the team in scoring and rebounding in the same game and the fourth time he has led the team in scoring and assists in the same game.
Anderson on defensive effort, team’s improvement in win over ’Dawgs
Hogs’ coach Mike Anderson with the media after the 70-60 win over Georgia on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena after bouncing back from the loss at Texas Tech on Saturday.
Jones on 23-point effort in Razorbacks’ bounce-back win
Arkansas’ Mason Jones (23 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists) with the media on the team improving defensively and his late free throws that provided free chicken for UA students.
Crean on Bulldogs’ problems in 70-60 loss to Arkansas
Georgia coach Tom Crean said his team had chances, but just blew too many open layups in the 10-point loss at Bud Walton, despite out-rebounding the Razorbacks, 56-32.
Chaney on defensive effort, give blocks in win over Bulldogs
Arkansas’ Reggie Chaney (6 points, 5 blocked shots) talked with the media about the defensive effort where the team blocked 14 shots, a school record in an SEC game.
???? Tuesday Halftime Pod — featuring Rivals’ Nikki Chavanelle
Phil & Tye discuss Arkansas-Georgia preview, interview Nikki Chavanelle, plus Get Off My Lawn!
Chavis has to figure out way to improve Hogs’ ‘stop rate’ for any success
It’s the new buzz statistic football folks talk about when looking inside the numbers of a football team — Defensive Stop Rate.
The stop rate is pretty simply a way in this day of fast-paced offenses and higher scoring to gauge a team’s effectiveness in getting off the field.
It’s just the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in getting off the field without giving up any points.
Then there’s the points per drive that calculates how many points teams averaged giving up per drive.
In case you’re wondering Clemson led the country last year, according to numbers in a story in The Athletic recently. Mississippi State and Fresno State tied in fewest points per drive at 1.13.
Arkansas was No. 105 in the country, but that’s not last in the SEC. Ole Miss was the worst at No. 119 and Vanderbilt at No. 110. The Razorbacks, of course, lost to both of those teams so that pretty much means the misery was on both sides of the ball, but this statistic was interesting in several ways.
John Chavis knows this. Chad Morris knows this. Every Hog fan knows this.
Here’s a couple of things:
• Alabama (6) and Kentucky (10) were the only SEC teams in the first 10.
• The SEC had four teams in the top 25. The Crimson Tide and Wildcats, obviously, but Mississippi State (13) and LSU (25) were next in the league with Florida (26) and Auburn (27) just outside that.
As the world of college football has changed to a passing game (the top four passer ratings in history have occurred in the last three seasons) and teams are now averaging nationwide 7.4 yards per pass attempt, well, stops are the crucial thing.
Forget all those numbers you grew up viewing as important or benchmarks for gauging a defense.
The only thing that matters now is getting off the field without giving up points.
And Arkansas struggled with that last season. It is being addressed in the off-season by bringing in some better players (or at least ones who will buy into the new way of doing things).
Oh, and they also have to get the ones that are here to play to their max potential.
That didn’t happen all time last season, particularly with of the higher-rated players that had been in Fayetteville for a couple of years.
But, for whatever reason, the defense has to make a big leap in finding a way to get off the field.
No matter how good the offense is.
[table “20” not found /]Neighbors on Hogs getting into ‘bracketology’ discussions this year
Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors was doing what is now known as “bracketology” long before it was popular and he’s glad to see the Hogs in the conversations now, but knows it doesn’t mean anything.
Bud Light Morning Rush Podcast: Tuesday
John and Tommy discuss Bud Walton losing its luster, interview Anthony Dasher, plus Would You Rather Tuesday!
