Hogs start fast and topple Gamecocks for win over Top 25 team
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Arkansas used a 25-2 first-half run Wednesday evening and never looked back, knocking off No. 21 South Carolina 83-76 in Colonial Life Arena.
Arkansas (19-7, 8-5 SEC) picks up a win over a ranked team on the road for the first time since the 2013-14 season and is now tied with South Carolina (20-6, 10-3 SEC) for the SEC lead with five conference roads on the year.
The Razorbacks improve to 9-5 on their last 14 road games, including a 7-2 mark in the last nine SEC road contests. Head coach Mike Anderson now has 19 SEC road wins in the last five-plus seasons, which is five more than Arkansas had in the previous 10 years before he took over.
The guard duo of Jaylen Barford and Dusty Hannahs dominated all night, combining for 43 points as Barford led the way with 23 points, including 17 in the first half. Hannahs was unstoppable for most of the game, adding 20 points and going 8-for-14 from the field and 4-of-7 from behind the arc.
Manuale Watkins provided the dagger with 27 seconds left as he launched a desperation fade away jumper that bounced around before falling as the shot clock expired.
Daryl Macon was clutch down the stretch, going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the final 15 seconds to seal the win. As a team, Arkansas went 16-of-18 from the free throw line, good for 89 percent.
Moses Kingsley finished in double figures with 16 points, with 11 of those coming in the second half. He had seven rebounds and the SEC’s leader in blocks added four more swats to bring his season total to 70 on the year. He became the third Razorback in the last 20 years to record 16-plus points, seven-plus rebounds and four-plus blocks in an SEC game.
UP NEXT
The Razorbacks return home Saturday evening, welcoming Ole Miss to town for a 5 p.m. tip-off inside Bud Walton Arena on SEC Network.
Hogs get much-needed win, coming back to down LSU
BATON ROUGE, La. — Arkansas used a second-half run to overtake LSU on Saturday night 78-70 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Razorbacks (18-7, 7-5 SEC) improved to 6-2 in its last eight conference road games and extends its win streak over the Tigers (9-15, 1-11) to three straight. The win marks the first victory in Baton Rouge since the 2007-08 season.
The Razorbacks used their 3-point shooting early in the second half to go on a 29-7 run and take a nine-point lead.
Seven of Arkansas’ first nine made baskets to start the second half came from behind the arc. After only shooting 37 percent from the field in the first half, the Razorbacks shot 53.8 percent in the second frame.
Arkansas got off to a slow start from the field, missing six of its first seven shots of the game. LSU climbed to an eight-point lead before the Razorbacks proceeded to sink five of their next six attempts to cut the deficit to just one.
The Tigers took a nine-point lead to the half after outscoring Arkansas 26-10 in the paint and outrebounding the Hogs 28-12 in the opening frame.
A common trend this season for the Razorbacks has been their bench production. Once again, it came up big, outscoring the Tigers 31-11.
Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon led the Razorbacks with 17 points each. Hannahs went 6-of-14 from the field and 5-of-10 from behind the arc, while Macon shot 5-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from the charity stripe.
Dustin Thomas had one of his best games as a Razorback. The redshirt-junior finished with nine points and a career and team-high nine rebounds. Anton Beard recorded 11 points and three assists.
UP NEXT
The Razorbacks remain on the road next week, traveling to Columbia, S.C. to face the No. 19 South Carolina Gamecocks on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 5:30 p.m.
Arkansas looks to complete season sweep of Vanderbilt on Tuesday
Arkansas team returns to Bud Walton Arena Tuesday evening looking to complete the season sweep of Vanderbilt, as the Commodores come to town for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off on SEC Network.
The Rundown
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 7
Location: Bud Walton Arena
Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. CT
TV: SEC Network
WatchESPN: Click Here
#Fastest40 Facts
• Arkansas is the only SEC team to win five straight conference games in three of the last four years.
• Arkansas is one of five teams in the country with 90-plus wins and fewer than 15 losses at home over the last six seasons. The Razorbacks are 92-14 (.868) at BWA under Anderson.
• In the last meeting against Vanderbilt on Jan. 24, Arkansas rallied from 15 points down with 6:02 remaining, capped by three free throws from Daryl Macon with one second left to give the Razorbacks an improbable 71-70 victory.
• The Razorbacks are tied for second in the country with 22 games scoring 70-plus points this year. A 62-60 road win at Texas A&M is Arkansas’ only game this season without reaching the 70-point plateau.
• The Razorbacks are 5-0 in their last five contests decided by one possession, the longest such streak since the 1994-95 season.
• Arkansas has won six straight games decided by four points or less, including four of those coming on the road.
• The Razorbacks are 4-1 this season following a loss, with a 13.8 average margin of victory.
A Win Would
• Give Arkansas its fourth straight home victory and the 13th win inside Bud Walton Arena this season.
• Be the fifth consecutive victory against Vanderbilt overall and the fifth straight win against the commodores in Fayetteville.
• Move Arkansas to 38-12 against SEC opponents in Bud Walton Arena in the Mike Anderson era.
The Vanderbilt Series
• Arkansas leads the all-time series 22-11, including four straight victories against the Commodores.
• The Razorbacks have won four straight meetings against Vandy in Fayetteville and hold a 12-2 edge in Bud Walton Arena.
• The Razorbacks have won seven of the last nine games again Vanderbilt, including a 90-85 overtime victory in BWA a season ago.
Razorbacks handle Missouri to snap losing skid behind Macon’s 17 points
Behind a big night from junior guard Daryl Macon, Arkansas (13-4, 2-3 SEC) led wire to wire Saturday night, defeating Missouri (5-11, 0-4 SEC), 92-73, inside Bud Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks have defeated the Tigers for the fifth consecutive time and improve to 90-14 inside Bud Walton Arena during the Mike Anderson era. Arkansas is one of two programs in the country with 90 wins and fewer than 15 losses at home over the last six seasons.
The Razorbacks used a big first half to pull away from the Tigers. After missing its first two shots of the game, Arkansas proceeded to make nine of its next 12 to open it up to a 25-14 lead midway through the first half. The Razorbacks later put together a 14-0 run to extend the lead to 21 before going into the locker room with a 50-36 advantage.
The Razorbacks were able to create some havoc on the defensive end. Pushing the tempo to its liking, Arkansas forced eight first-half turnovers and scored 17 points in transition in the opening frame.
Jaylen Barford led all Razorbacks in the first half, scoring 11 points to make it three of the last four games that he has scored in double figures before halftime. Macon had five first-half assists, which tied his career-high.
The Razorbacks maintained their double-digit lead throughout the second half, finishing on a 7-0 run and holding the Tigers scoreless for the final two minutes and 40 seconds of the game to capture a 19-point victory. Arkansas finished with its best shooting performance of the season, sinking 33-of-59 shots (.559).
Macon finished with a game-high 17 points, career-high six assists and four rebounds. Dusty Hannahs had 16 points of his own to go along with three boards and three assists. Five Razorbacks finished in double figures as Moses Kingsley ended with 10 points, Barford with 13 and Anton Beard had 11.
UP NEXT
Texas A&M is next up for Arkansas. The Razorbacks travel to College Station on Tuesday, Jan. 17 to face the Aggies at 6 p.m. on SEC Network.
Lashlee leaves Auburn while Louisville, Mississippi State swap D-coordinators
The musical chairs game of coaching in college football has now kicked into high gear.
It’s not just at Arkansas, where Robb Smith has gone to Minnesota, leaving the defensive coordinator position open. Secondary coach Paul Rhoads is reportedly the front-runner to replace Smith, but now there are some saying he may be a co-coordinator.
Some of the names in the mix at Arkansas include:
• Former Arkansas assistant Charlie Partridge, who was fired at Florida Atlantic.
• Mississippi State safeties coach Maurice Linguist.
• Central Florida defensive coordinator Erik Chinander.
The Hogs’ offensive coordinator, Dan Enos, has been mentioned as a replacement for P.J. Fleck at Western Michigan in addition to the offensive coordinator position at Pittsburgh after Matt Canada went to LSU.
One of the more interesting moves came about when Louisville forced defensive coordinator Todd Grantham out, then hired Mississippi State defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon to replace him after it surfaced Tuesday he was being forced out in Starkville.
So, MSU immediately hires Grantham. He will become the fourth defensive coordinator under Dan Mullen in the past four seasons. The other names were Geoff Collins and Manny Diaz before Sirmon.
Grantham may have traded one difficult coach to work for in Bobby Petrino for Mullen, who reportedly has similar issues with assistants.
But all of that pales to the drama going on down on The Plains at Auburn.
Gus Malzahn, despite getting the Tigers to the Sugar Bowl, had to dump his buddy, offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee. According to sources at Auburn, it was a move Malzahn had to make to keep his job.
Lashlee, with Malzahn’s help, got the offensive coordinator position at Connecticut with new coach Randy Edsall.
That immediately started the rumors about either former Baylor coach Art Briles or his son Kendall (who was the offensive coordinator for the Bears) replacing Lashlee.
All of that was squashed Thursday morning in a report from Auburn Undercover on 247Sports.com.
“No way on Art,” a high-level source told Auburn Undercover on Thursday. “Kendal lacks experience Gus (Malzahn) needs.”
That leaves the game of musical chairs going at warp speed. Considering Malzahn has to please the behind-the-scenes maneuvering by former coach Pat Dye along with a demanding fan base and boosters, it has to be a big name and somebody with a proven track record.
On the staff are offensive line coach Herb Hand, running backs coach Tim Horton or receivers coach Kodi Burns and they will be fallback candidates.
Now the candidates include:
• Jeff Scott, Clemson’s co-offensive coordinator.
• Jake Spavital, California’s offensive coordinator who is in limbo after Sonny Dykes was fired.
• Chip Lindsey, Arizona State’s offensive coordinator, who may be the frontrunner, according to some close to Auburn. He was a high school coach at Spain Park and knocked off legendary Hoover. His connections in Alabama high schools run deep, but his offense last year with the Sun Devils was only ranked 81st.
• Brandon Streeter, Clemson’s quarterback coach.
• Eliah Drinkwitz, North Carolina State’s offensive coordinator, who moved to offensive coordinator at Springdale High when Malzahn was hired by the Razorbacks. He later followed Malzahn to Auburn and Arkansas State.
And we haven’t even gotten to who’s coming and going at Alabama yet. Every year Nick Saban’s staff has at least one or two divorces, a couple of heart issues and four ulcers to deal with.
Bulldogs’ 3-point shooting sinks Razorbacks for second straight SEC loss
Despite a season-high 19 points from senior Moses Kingsley, Arkansas (12-4, 1-3 SEC) fell, 84-78, on Tuesday night to Mississippi State (11-4, 2-1 SEC) in Bud Walton Arena.
Kingsley scored five early points to push Arkansas out in front to a 9-8 lead at the first media timeout.
Mississippi State later missed seven straight shots over a span of three minutes and 52 seconds, giving Arkansas the chance to go on an 11-1 run, with eight of those points by Anton Beard, as the Razorbacks took a 24-17 lead with 9:40 left in the first period.
The Bulldogs used three consecutive three-point baskets to recapture the lead 33-27 before going into the break with a 40-34 lead.
After forcing the Bulldogs into a shot clock violation and five second call on back-to-back possessions, Arkansas used a quick 6-0 run to open the second half to tie the game at 40.
The Razorbacks, however, could never regain the lead despite forcing Mississippi State into 16 turnovers during the game.
Three-point shooting by the Bulldogs damaged the Hogs as Mississippi State went 12-of-26 (.462) from behind the arc.
Kingsley finished with a season-high 19 points and four rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting, including sinking a bucket from behind the arc. Jaylen Barford put up 10 points and five rebounds for the Razorbacks.
Arkansas continues to get good production from its bench as Dusty Hannahs put up 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting and three rebounds. Hannahs has now scored in double-figures in every game this season that he has come off the bench.
Anton Beard recorded 11 points and has scored in double-figures in five of the last six games. Dustin Thomas finished with a team-high seven rebounds to go with eight points. The Razorbacks outscored the Bulldogs 36-21 in bench points.
UP NEXT
Arkansas will face the Missouri Tigers on Saturday, Jan. 14 in Bud Walton Arena. The game is set to tip-off at 5 p.m. on SEC Network.
Multiple sources reporting Smith now headed to Minnesota to join Fleck’s staff
First, Arkansas’ defensive coordinator Robb Smith was headed to Wake Forest.
Now he’s apparently taken a turn and is headed to Minnesota to join the staff of newly-hired coach P.J. Fleck.
ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg reported the story first at 1:24 p.m. Monday:
Minnesota is hiring Arkansas defensive coordinator Robb Smith for the same position, a source tells ESPN.
An official announcement is expected shortly. New Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck is hoping to complete his staff by Thursday.
Per terms of his contract, Smith would owe Arkansas $250,000 to break his contract, which runs through the 2018 season.
It is not unusual when a coach is wanting to make a change the school will waive that so a coach the school wants to replace can leave without being fired.
Smith was in line to receive a $50,000 pay raise this month that would increase his annual compensation to $850,000.
The Gophers had fired Tracy Claeys after Fleck’s Western Michigan team lost to Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl last week. They made in the coaching change in one week.
Smith’s defense at Arkansas improved in 2014, but has gone downhill since. With second-half collapses in the final two games of the season, it comes as no surprise Smith is leaving.
The leader in the clubhouse to replace Smith is secondary coach Paul Rhoads, who just completed his first season on the Arkansas staff.
Hogs keep it close for a half before falling to Kentucky on road
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Arkansas kept it close for a half.
But in the second half, Kentucky caught fire and raced past the Razorbacks, 97-71, in Rupp Arena.
The loss dropped the Hogs to 1-2 in SEC play, 12-3 overall. The No. 6-ranked Wildcats are 13-2 overall, 3-0 in the league.
Kentucky built an early five-point lead before Arkansas went on a 9-0 run with the help of four straight Kentucky turnovers, giving the Razorbacks a 24-20 lead with 8:04 left in the first half. Jaylen Barford contributed seven of his 14 first half points during the run. The Wildcats responded with a 12-0 run of their own to take an eight-point lead, before Arkansas clawed back within three, taking it to half down 41-38.
Kentucky came out in the second half on fire, making seven of its first eight shots to pull to a 57-48 lead with 15:09 left in the game. The Razorbacks could not manufacture any sort of run to climb back as the Wildcats stretched their lead to double figures shortly after.
Three Razorbacks finished in double figures as Daryl Macon led the way with 15 points. Macon has scored 10 or more points in eight straight games, leading the team in scoring in five out of the last six contests.
Barford scored 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting off the bench, while Moses Kingsley also put up 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Manuale Watkins tied his season high with seven rebounds, tying Kingsley for a team-high in boards.
The Razorbacks were strong from the charity stripe once again, going 81 percent (17-21) from the line, led by a 5-of-5 performance by Kingsley. Trey Thompson made all four of his attempts from the free throw line, finishing with four points and four rebounds.
UP NEXT
Arkansas will return home on Tuesday, Jan. 10 as the Razorbacks are set to square off against the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Bud Walton Arena at 8 p.m. on SEC Network.
Nearly all of Hogs’ second-half meltdowns simply boil down to coaching
In a more in-depth autopsy of Arkansas’ 2016 season, it is clear this is a team that could have finished with nine wins.
At least.
No, it wasn’t a team that is ready to challenge Alabama for a title. But the excuses and pulling out bits and pieces here and there to justify losses are getting tiresome.
At times Bret Bielema sounds like a 6-year-old just scolded for not cleaning up his room.
“But I cleaned it up last week,” is the reply.
If you have kids, you get the idea.
Arkansas’ season is just another example of what has become a habit for Bielema’s teams — they can’t finish.
When a team turns a halftime lead into a loss, it’s for one of two reasons:
• The other team simply has much better players that become motivated or they wear down the opponent.
• Coaching blunders.
Looking back over Bret Bielema’s four years at Arkansas, the signs really started to show themselves in that first season. We should have seen the signs then.
Before Robb Smith, Dan Enos, this offensive line, these players.
Remember 2013? Bielema basically had a pass on all the losses that year. In stepping back and looking at the overall picture it should have been better than 3-9.
Below we look at all 14 losses that could have been wins and the reason for the loss at the end:
2013 Blown Chances
• Leading Rutgers 24-7 and watch it all go by the wayside in a 28-24 loss. That should have been the first clue that 24 is not a good number for Bielema. Coaching
• Against Mississippi State, the Hogs had a 10-0 lead, then a 17-10 edge going into the fourth quarter and lost it in overtime. Remember, this was Dak Prescott’s rookie year and he wasn’t even the starting quarterback all year. Coaching
• Against all odds, the Hogs were leading LSU 27-21 in the fourth quarter, and had knocked starting quarterback Zach Mettenberger out of the game. Backup Anthony Jennings came in and took the Tigers 99 yards in a hurry for a 31-27 win. This one gets a combo-grade because there were some questionable decisions at the end that should have been the third set of red flags for what was coming. Talent-Coaching
2014 Blown Chances
• We discovered that Texas A&M has gained a steady hold on Bielema and the Hogs. Arkansas led the Aggies 28-14 entering the fourth quarter and lost the game in a one-possession overtime, looking horrendous being stopped without a first down. Coaching
• Shockingly, the Hogs found themselves ahead of Alabama 13-7 going into the fourth quarter, but then the Crimson Tide put enough together for a touchdown drive and a 14-13 win. Talent
• Again, finding themselves with a 10-7 lead in Starkville against No. 1-ranked Mississippi State, Prescott brought the Bulldogs back to get a 17-10 win in a game the Hogs could have won, but we’ll give Bielema a half-out on this one. Talent-Coaching
• Leading what had become the best team in the East for two seasons, Arkansas had a 14-6 lead on the Tigers going into the fourth quarter. Then Missouri scored twice and shut down the Hogs’ offense for a 21-14 win. Coaching
2015 Blown Chances
• After losing to Toledo the week before (which everyone pretty much wrote off as one of those things), the Razorbacks found themselves tied at 21-21 with Texas Tech. The Red Raiders and their spread attack, which Bielema said the previous summer was the type he would “kick your ass.” The Hogs were outscored in the second half 14-3 and lost by double digits. Coaching
• Texas A&M again saw the Hogs lead 21-13 in the fourth quarter. The Aggies, again, got it to overtime and held Arkansas scoreless there for another win. Coaching
• Facing another Alabama team headed for a national championship, the Razorbacks took advantage of the Tide’s sleepwalking in the first half for a 7-3 lead, but then lost the game by double digits. Talent
• Mississippi State came to Fayetteville and on a bitterly cold night, a track meet broke out as Prescott showed flashes of what Dallas Cowboys faithful are cheering for now. He led the Bulldogs down the field at will. In the end, though, a blocking snafu on a field goal got the Hogs’ game-winning shot blocked. Coaching
2016 Blown Chances
• After a hard-fought opening win over Louisiana Tech and an overtime win against a sub-par TCU team, it was the Aggies again. The Hogs were tied at halftime and ended up losing by 21 points. Coaching
• In the season finale, the Hogs led hapless Missouri 24-7 at halftime and lost. The Tigers were the worst team in the SEC East and Arkansas had just blown out the top team in the East, Florida. Coaching
• Fans were thinking the Missouri game was a simple snafu at halftime of the Belk Bowl with Arkansas leading Virginia Tech 24-0. That changed as the Hokies came back to win by double digits as the offense completely disappeared for the Hogs. Coaching
Over four seasons, that’s 14 games. Split the difference and give Arkansas wins in just half of those games and Bielema’s record is 32-19. The water might be a little warm, but it’s nowhere near boiling.
The total is 10 losses that can be chalked up to coaching while two are strictly talent (Alabama) and two are a combination of the two.
In today’s world of college football, you know what you have in a coach in four years. Colorado discovered they made the right choice with Mike MacIntyre, who just finished his fourth year leading the Buffaloes to a 10-4 record and an appearance in the Pac 12 title game.
Even looking back now, can you say Colorado in December 2012 was a better job than Arkansas then?
Yes, they aren’t in the SEC West. UA officials were pretty much aware that Arkansas was in the toughest division in the toughest conference in the country.
A division that has won six of the last nine national championships. Yes, if Alabama beats Clemson on Monday night it will be seven-of-10.
Firing Bielema now isn’t going to happen.
But what has to happen is some changes in the expectations, culture and approach in Arkansas football.
There are no more excuses acceptable. Those really should have expired at the end of 2015, but some — fans and media alike — prefer to continue to not step back and look at the big picture.
When you look at that, blowing games in the second half comes down to not taking care of the details.
Bielema has tried it his way for four years.
Now we see if he can change.
Clutch free throws down stretch lift Razorbacks past Tennessee
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Mike Anderson finally got what he wanted to see Tuesday night.
“The effort tonight was unbelievable,” he told his players after Arkansas had beaten Tennessee 82-78. “That’s the team I’ve been waiting for.”
Anton Beard scored 16 points and the Razorbacks hit their free throws down the stretch to erase an early 13-point deficit and outlast the Volunteers, 82-78.
Arkansas (12-2, 1-1 SEC) has beaten Tennessee (8-6, 1-1) five straight times for the longest winning streak by either team in the 38-game history of this series.
The Volunteers trailed 71-64 with 2:52 left when Arkansas’ Moses Kingsley missed the front end of a one-and-one to set the stage for a Tennessee rally. Tennessee got to within 71-70 with 1:50 remaining when Robert Hubbs dunked on a fast break after Grant Williams blocked a Kingsley shot on the other end of the floor.
Tennessee cut the lead to one again on Detrick Mostella’s 3-point play with 24.7 seconds left, but Daryl Macon went 6 of 6 on free throws the rest of the way to seal the victory.
Arkansas shot 11 of 12 from the line over the final 1:31 of the game.
Macon scored 15 points, as he made only one basket but was 12 of 13 on free throws. Jaylen Barford scored 14 points and Dusty Hannahs added 13.
Robert Hubbs III scored 21 points and Mostella had 16 for Tennessee. Williams added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The first half alone featured seven lead changes and two major momentum swings.
Tennessee grabbed a 39-26 lead late in the first half by going on a 14-0 run as Arkansas went scoreless for a stretch of 5 minutes, 20 seconds. Arkansas responded by reeling off 15 straight points in a spurt that began in the last three minutes of the first half and carried over to the opening minute of the second half.
THE BIG PICTURE
Arkansas: The 15-0 run that allowed Arkansas to take control of this game shouldn’t have come as a surprise. The Razorbacks have thrived on these kinds of spurts all season. Arkansas entered this game having scored at least 10 straight points on 13 different occasions this year.
Tennessee: The Vols held Kingsley in check, as the SEC preseason player of the year had just seven points to go along with 10 rebounds and shot 3 of 10 from the floor. But a balanced Arkansas attack proved too much for the Vols to handle.
NEXT UP
Arkansas visits No. 6 Kentucky on Saturday.
Tennessee is at No. 24 Florida on Saturday.
