To shake up his struggling starting lineup, Mike Anderson just looked down the Hall.
Arkansas freshman Darious Hall received his first-ever college start Saturday at Bud Walton Arena against the Missouri Tigers (12-5, 2-3). Senior star guard Daryl Macon came off of the bench for the first time this season.
The shakeup worked from start to finish. Hall grabbed the game's first rebound, shot 4-for-4 from the field and finished with 10 points, five rebounds and two steals in the first half to key a 36-28 lead by Arkansas (12-5, 2-3) at the intermission. The first-half lead peaked at 30-12 after Arkansas was mired in 17- and 21-point deficits in the preceding 88-77 and 75-54 Southeastern Conference losses at Auburn (16-1, 4-0) and to LSU (11-5, 2-0) at Bud Walton.
Macon helped seal Arkansas' 65-63 win. He dished five of his game-leading eight assists in the second half.
His lob to Daniel Gafford for the 6-11 El Dorado freshman's screen and roll dunk to break a 63-63 tie with 57 seconds left became the game-winner. Macon tied Gafford for Arkansas' team-leading six rebounds.
For starters, Hall, the 6-6 athlete from Little Rock Mills, brought fresh starting energy that Arkansas obviously lacked. The freshman fared well off of the bench in non-conference play, but then looked lost and not ready for SEC prime time in his first conference game against Tennessee on Dec. 30. Arkansas won 95-93 in overtime at Bud Walton, but Hall played just three minutes and recorded three turnovers.
Hall increasingly improved during the Hogs' three game skid at Mississippi State (13-4, 1-3), Auburn and LSU. Why not give him a chance to be the starting shot in the arm?
"Darious came out and started, and I thought Darious played well and gave us some quality minutes," Anderson said.
Gafford said he appreciated his classmate's fresh infusion.
"He's an energy guy," Gafford said. "I walked up to him before the game and said, 'Since this is your first time starting, you've got to go out and give it your all. You've got to leave it all on the court.' And that's what he did."
Macon concurred.
"He plays like it's his last game every time," Macon said. "I've got to give it to him, he played awesome tonight."
Anderson explained bringing Little Rock Parkview and Holmes (Miss.) Community College grad Macon off of the bench certainly was not a demotion for second-leading scorer. Macon's 15.8 points per game includes 33 points in Arkansas' SEC season-opening victory over Tennessee.
"I don't know how they see it, but we've got eight or nine starters," Anderson said. "The key is playing time. You look at it, (Macon) played 26 minutes and was very, very effective. He probably played some of his better defense going down the stretch. And that's what we've been talking about is our defense. Offensively, Daryl did a great job orchestrating screen and rolls for Daniel."
Macon was asked about the pick and roll ending in the Gafford bucket. The questioner wondered perhaps it was more layup than dunk.
"To start that off, it was a dunk," Macon said, as Gafford who sat alongside him on the interview room platform laughed. "Second ... I just found him on the roll. It was open all night. I kind of didn't see it until the second half when he came to me and told me.
"That's something that I think we should do more often because he's open. It's hard to guard when you've got a guy that athletic, and then you've got a guard coming off that can score. It's hard to guard."
Anderson said Macon's ability to score allowed Gafford to be open.
"There are times when Daryl can come off that screen and he'll knock a shot down or he'll get into the lane and get somebody to foul him," Anderson said of what Missouri was trying to prevent. "They were trying to push him (Macon) to one direction and that allowed Daniel to slip to the basket. They took what the defense gave us."
The next step is seizing any advantage given in a true road game. The Razorbacks lost true road games to Mississippi State and Auburn, as well as 91-65 at Houston (13-3, 3-1 in the American Athletic Conference).
The Florida Gators (12-5, 4-1) loom in Wednesday's 6 p.m. SEC game at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville. The game will be televised on ESPN2 (Resort Channel 29).
Sports on 01/15/2018