Mike’s seat not hot, but it is starting to smolder
You’re not going to hear from this corner that Mike Anderson has a problem.
At least yet.
It’s college basketball and having a 2-4 record in the SEC isn’t cause for a full-blown fire alarm. With 12 conference games (plus an out-of-conference matchup with Oklahoma State), there’s plenty of time to put out the smoldering ashes.
But Arkansas does have to go 7-5 down the stretch just to get to .500.
And nobody knows if that’s enough to make life comfortable for Anderson. That still wouldn’t give him 20 wins on a season that most were expecting to be much better than that.
Yes, things have gotten to that point.
Losing to Florida on Wednesday night wouldn’t be that big of a deal except the Gators came in struggling offensively, without much support down low and Arkansas had hopes.
That was until KeVaughn Allen, the Little Rock native, suddenly found his shooting touch against his home state team he spurned a few years ago.
In a strange way, you had to figure that would be what would happen. He was the Gators’ leading scorer last year and hadn’t hit double figures this season.
Allen scored 28 points, easily his highest output of the season. Florida students held up large pieces of paper spelling out “shooters shoot” to remind Allen he needed to be aggressive.
“I saw that,” Allen said later. “It was funny to me.”
Arkansas didn’t appear too surprised.
“He came out locked in to shoot the ball,” said Razorbacks guard Jaylen Barford, who scored a team-high 28 points. “He was just scoring left and right.”
Afterwards, Anderson remained calm and analytical, which is usually the way he is regardless of how big the game is or what the outcome is.
“That was not good defense,” Anderson said. “KeVaughn shot lights out. Jalen Hudson shot lights out. And the rest was history.”
Unfortunately that has been the history for this team too often in the past three weeks.
And it won’t get any easier.
Ole Miss comes in Saturday afternoon and they’ve won in Fayetteville before.
Bit now the Hogs will be playing a little short-handed more than likely.
Trey Thompson went down in the first half with a hamstring injury and Anton Beard left with a gruesome-looking ankle injury also went out early.
Those are two key players.
Now Anderson has to find an answer for that and figure out some way to get a win without those two key players. No one has officially ruled them out, but expecting either of them to be ready in three days might be too much for even the most optimistic.
Somehow, Anderson’s going to have to figure out a way to get some wins … quickly.
Or that smoldering may turn into a small blaze.
With at least a couple of prominent boosters already beginning a push to try and lure Texas Tech coach Chris Beard to Fayetteville now is the time Anderson needs to stop the fire from growing.
Which will require some wins.
And, as we said, quickly.
Hatfield named to College Football Playoff Committee
IRVING, Texas — Former Arkansas player and coach Ken Hatfield has been named to the 13-member College Football Playoff selection committee, CFP executive director Bill Hancock announced on Wednesday.
Hatfield is one of six new members and will serve a three-year term on the committee, which is responsible for selecting the top four teams in the playoff and assigning them to semifinal games as well as placing the next group of teams in the remaining New Year’s bowls.
The committee meets in-person beginning late in the football season and produces a ranking of the top 25 teams each week, leading up to its final selections.
In six years as a head coach, Hatfield posted an Arkansas-record .760 winning percentage and averaged more than nine wins per year from 1984-89.
He led the Razorbacks to a bowl game all six seasons, including two Cotton bowls, two Liberty bowls, the Holiday and the Orange.
He coached the Razorbacks to Southwest Conference championships in 1988 and 1989, and final rankings of No. 12 in 1985, No. 15 in 1986, No. 12 in 1988 and No. 13 in 1989.
On the field as a halfback, he earned first-team All-SWC honors in 1964.
His 81-yard punt return for a touchdown keyed the 14-13 victory at No. 1 Texas as Arkansas went 11-0 in 1964 and won the national championship following a 10-7 victory over No. 6 Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl.
Hatfield led the nation in punt returns in 1963 and 1964, averaging 16.7 yards per return each season. He also led the SWC in 1962. In 1962 and 1963, he led the Hogs in interceptions.
In 1962, he led the team in passes broken up, and as a kickoff returner, he led the club in 1962 and 1964.
His 16.01 career punt return average is a school record while his 1,604 total return yards rank second in school history and ranked first until 2004.
His 1,153 career punt return yards rank first at Arkansas and his 518 punt return yards in 1964 is a season record.
About the College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff matches the No. 1 seed vs. No. 4, and No. 2 vs. No. 3 in semifinal games that rotate annually among six bowl games — the Goodyear Cotton Bowl, PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Capital One Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl and Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual.
This season’s Playoff Semifinals will take place Saturday, December 29, 2018, at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and Capital One Orange Bowl.
The College Football Playoff National Championship will be Monday, January 7, 2019, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Saturday’s game with Ole Miss officially a sellout
FAYETTEVILLE — Saturday’s game against Ole Miss is officially sold out, marking the fourth consecutive Saturday home contest Arkansas has announced as a sellout.
Arkansas fans can stretch that streak to five games against Vanderbilt on Saturday, Feb. 10, the only remaining Saturday home game with tickets still available.
Fewer than 50 tickets remain for the first mid-week sellout of the year as the Super Tuesday matchup against Kentucky on Feb. 20 would be the seventh sellout of the season.
Remaining Home Games with Available Tickets
• South Carolina (Tuesday, Feb. 6)
• Vanderbilt (Saturday, Feb. 10)
• Kentucky (Tuesday, Feb. 20)
• Auburn (Tuesday, Feb. 27)
Arkansas is back in action this evening, traveling to Gainesville, Florida, for a 6 p.m. tip-off against the Gators on ESPN2.
Raining 3’s expected for Hogs’ women’s game with Florida
FAYETTEVILLE — It’s raining 3’s might be the headline after Thursday’s Southeastern Conference women’s basketball contest between Arkansas and Florida.
Scouting Arkansas
The Gators (8-10, 0-5 SEC) lead the league in 3-point shooting with Arkansas (11-7, 2-3 SEC) second in shooting from distance. Thursday’s 6 p.m. tip should be a fast-paced match-up. The game airs live on the SEC Network.
The Razorbacks are coming off a road win at Auburn and rank second in the SEC averaging 7.8 made 3-point field goals per game. Arkansas is also second with made 3-pointers with 141.
Arkansas saw back-to-back season-best nights from junior Bailey Zimmerman at Georgia and at Auburn. Zimmerman hit six 3-point field goals in those games, shooting 46{e1768d0eec022f908d772ba0c0274d97d05d220b4341147789bdb671ddb19707} from beyond the arc.
She added a career-best eight rebounds against the Tigers and was key as a defensive stopper in the game. Kiara Williams also stepped up with her third double-double last week with a career-best 15 points and 14 rebounds.
The Razorbacks are in the midst of a tough road SEC schedule. They played back-to-back games on the road at Georgia and Auburn, host Florida, and return to the road traveling to No. 11 Missouri on Sunday and No. 10 South Carolina on Thursday.
Scouting Florida
The Gators are also in a transition season welcoming a new head coach this year. Cameron Newbauer leads Florida after four seasons as Belmont’s head coach.
Although they are 0-5 in the SEC, Florida’s last four games have been decided by single digits and the Gators have held leads late in the contests.
Five Gators average double figures led by Funa Nakkasoglu at 14.9 ppg. Haley Lorenzen (12.6 ppg), Paulina Hersler (12.2 ppg), Dyandria Anderson (11.3 ppg) and Deilcia Washington (10.1 ppg) are also averaging double digits.
Haley Lorenzen is the team’s leading rebounder with 9.3 rpg.
Hogs take aim at Gators on road Wednesday night
FAYETTEVILLE — Looking for its fourth victory away from Bud Walton Arena this year, Arkansas travels to Florida on Wednesday evening for a 6 p.m. tip-off on ESPN2.
The Rundown
Opponent: Florida (12-5, 4-1 SEC)
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 17
Site: Exactech Arena (Gainesville, Fla.)
Tip-off: 6 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN2 | WatchESPN
Live Stats: Click Here
SiriusXM Radio: 137/190
The #Fastest40 Facts
• The Razorbacks are looking for their first conference road win of the year after tying the program record for SEC road wins in a season last year with six.
• During the last four seasons, Arkansas is second in the SEC in league wins with 36, while Florida is third with 35.
• Following Saturday’s victory over Missouri, Arkansas’ RPI went from No. 25 to No. 21 according to the NCAA, while its strength of schedule is up from No. 13 to No. 7.
• Arkansas has won 31 consecutive games in which it has led at halftime. During Mike Anderson era, the Razorbacks are 116-7 when leading at the intermission.
• Daniel Gafford’s game-winning dunk against Missouri was his 39th slam of the year, more than six SEC teams, including Florida with 35 as a program this season.
• Daryl Macon is one of two players in the SEC with four games of 8+ assists this season. In those four contests, he has totaled 32 assists and just six turnovers.
• Jaylen Barford is the only player in the SEC to rank in the top three in points per game (3rd) and field goal percentage (3rd).
A Win Would…
• Give the Razorbacks their first true road win of the season and the fourth victory away from Bud Walton Arena this year.
• Be Arkansas’ first win Gainesville in 23 years, dating back to a 94-85 victory during the 1994-95 season when Corliss Williamson led the way with 20 points.
• Snap a seven-game losing streak to Florida, including 12 straight losses in Gainesville.
