Today's annual inter-conference matchup comes at an opportune moment for coach Mike Anderson and his Razorbacks.
Arkansas (14-6, 4-4 in the Southeastern Conference) is matched up with Oklahoma State (13-7, 3-5 in the Big 12) for the second year in a row in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. The 5 p.m. game at Bud Walton Arena will be broadcast on ESPN2 (Resort Channel 29)
Last year's matchup at Gallagher-Iba Arena played out in a familiar formula for Arkansas on the road. Arkansas started slowly and the Cowboys had nine points on the board before senior Jaylen Barford finally got the Hogs in the game.
Arkansas trailed by double digits through the first half and the Cowboys put up a ridiculous first-half total of 59 points. The Razorbacks scored 33 of their own, but they were never in it.
Barford scored 21 points, but received little help from the rest of his team in a 99-71 loss to an Oklahoma State team only 13-8 at the time. The Cowboys cooled off to finish the game shooting 50 percent, 33-for-66, with 9-for-20, 45 percent, shooting from 3-point.
Tuesday's squeaker over Georgia (12-7, 3-5) nearly emulated the road demolition in Stillwater a year ago. The Bulldogs led 7-0 early and built a 29-13 lead with just over six minutes left in the first half.
Barford took over. He willed his team to a 15-4 run to close the first half and eight more early in the second half when Arkansas took its first lead, 38-37, when he already had 18 points.
Georgia never shot as efficiently as the Cowboys, and Arkansas led the Bulldogs for much of the second half. The Razorbacks may have squandered the chance to finally win a true road game without a clutch performance by senior guard Daryl Macon.
Barford's running mate had zero points at halftime Tuesday and nine points at the end of regulation. Barford never scored after the 7:45 mark in the second half despite the game going into a second overtime.
Macon's performance in the first 40 minutes was more like the Stillwater tilt a year ago, when he scored zero points in 25 minute on 0-for-8 shooting, including 0-for-6.
Things were different this time around.
Macon scored five points in the first overtime Tuesday and all 11 of Arkansas' points in the second overtime to push the Hogs to an 80-77 win.
Anderson's program is notoriously underwhelming on the road, but now they get the Cowboys in Fayetteville and hope to prevent a repeat performance by Oklahoma State senior Jeffrey Carroll, a physical 6-6 guard.
Carroll led the Cowboys with 20 points against Arkansas last year, including 8-for-10 shooting at the free throw line. He leads the team in scoring this year with an average of 16.2 points and ranks second on the team in rebounds with 6.2 per game.
Anderson said Carroll is an "all-conference player." The senior has attempted 83 free throws this season, 27 more than the next closest on his team.
Arkansas attempts far more free throws, but is also less efficient. Barford, Macon and Daniel Gafford, a freshman from El Dorado, have all attempted more free throws than Carroll, but convert on 66.7, 85.4 and 54.2 percent, respectively.
Barford shot 75.2 percent last season and Macon shot 86.6. Collectively, Arkansas shoots just 67 percent at the line, 13th in the SEC, and can ill afford to give away easy chances against the Big 12 foe. Oklahoma State leads the Big 12 at 76.9 percent on free throws.
Junior Tavarius Shine, another 6-6 wing, and 6-3 senior guard Kendall Smith share the scoring load with Carroll, averaging 11.4 and 10.8 points, respectively. Mitchell Solomon, a 6-9, 250-pound senior, mans the post area for the Cowboys and leads the team with 6.5 rebounds per game.
Gafford struggled in his matchup with Yante Maten (6-8, 240) Tuesday, finishing with zero points and just three rebounds in 27 minutes. Anderson may need more from his freshman today, as well as the inside rotation, which features senior Trey Thompson who sealed Tuesday's win with a late block on Maten.
Sports on 01/27/2018