Macon takes cake
Guard’s big shots an ideal present
ATHENS, Ga. — The Arkansas Razorbacks made sure teammate Jaylen Barford had a happy birthday Tuesday night.
Especially Daryl Macon.
Macon, a senior guard from Little Rock, scored
11 of his 25 points in the second overtime as the Razorbacks beat Georgia 80-77 at Stegeman Coliseum before an announced crowd of 6,405.
Barford, a senior guard, celebrated his 22nd birthday with 24 points.
“It was great to win our first road game on my birthday,” Barford said. “I’m very excited right now.”
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville (14-6, 4-4 SEC) won back-to-back conference games for the first time this
season and won on the road for the first time after going 0-4.
“I guess we just made one more play than Georgia did,” Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. “It took everybody on our team to contribute in a win like this here.”
Macon didn’t score until hitting a layup with 15:04 to play in regulation.
“At one point, Daryl told me, ‘I’m coming,’ ” Barford said. “I said, ‘All right, then let’s get it.’ That’s when he started hitting a lot of shots.”
Macon finished 7 of 14 from the field and hit 5 of 10 three-pointers and 6 of 6 free throws.
“I just had to calm down,” Macon said. “One thing Coach A kept telling me was don’t run from the big moment. I couldn’t run from it. I just had to keep pushing so I could be there for my team.”
Macon hit three-pointers on three consecutive positions in the second overtime to put the Razorbacks ahead 78-76 with 1:04 left.
“We were playing pretty good defense on Macon — tight,” said Georgia senior forward Yante Maten, who had 26 points and 15 rebounds. “But he was just playing at an outstanding level.”
Maten hit 1 of 2 free throws to cut Arkansas’ lead to 78-77 with 42.3 seconds left.
After Barford missed a jump shot with 14 seconds left, Maten had what appeared to be a clean look at a layup. But instead of Maten hitting a game-winning shot, Arkansas senior forward Trey Thompson blocked his attempt with 2.2 seconds left.
“It was a clean block,” Maten said. “He made a really good play for them.”
Macon then hit two free throws with one second left, and Maten missed a threepoint attempt at the buzzer.
“It was refreshing,” Thompson said of the victory. “We needed a road win and just came out and gutted it out and stayed the course.
“We didn’t panic, and we gave Jaylen a really good birthday present.”
Barford scored his final points on a basket with 7:45 left in regulation, but then Macon took over.
“In the second half I told Daryl, you’ve got to be a little bit more assertive and embrace those moments,” Anderson said. “Our guys did a good job of getting the ball to him, and he did a good job of knocking the shots down.
“And it was needed. It was much needed.”
The Razorbacks won with freshman forward Daniel Gafford — who came into the game averaging 12.2 points and shooting 62.5 percent from the field — going scoreless for the first time this season.
“I just thought it was about the seniors,” Anderson said.
Senior guard Anton Beard, playing through a right ankle injury he suffered at Florida last week, had 8 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds in 38 minutes.
“Anton’s playing with a bum ankle,” Anderson said. “But he played with everything he had.”
The Bulldogs (12-7, 3-5) used an 18-4 run to move ahead 27-11 with 6:38 left in the first half.
“They came down and just pounded us and got anything they wanted to,” Anderson said. “Their intention was to pound it inside, get to the free-throw line, and shoot it and go get it.
“That favored them, but we ended up speeding them up a little bit. We got in a nice rhythm.”
The Razorbacks pulled within 33-28 by halftime and took their first lead, 38-37, on a Barford three-pointer with 16:18 left in regulation.
It was the first of 17 lead changes in the game. There also were nine ties.
“We talked about how you’re going to get punched, and you’ve got to punch back,” Anderson said. “I thought our defense kicked it into gear, and before you know it, our offense started coming on.”
The Razorbacks started 3 of 17 from the field.
“But we know we’re a much better shooting team than that,” Anderson said. “We saw that on display in the second half.”
Beard hit a jump shot to give Arkansas a 63-61 lead with 28 seconds left in overtime, but Georgia freshman guard Jordan Harris — who coming into the game was 7 of 13 on free throws this season — hit 2 of 2 with 5.4 seconds left to tie the game at 63-63 and send it into the first overtime after Barford missed a heave from just inside the half-court line.
Georgia took a 66-64 lead on a Maten free throw, but Macon hit two free throws and a three-pointer to put the Razorbacks ahead 69-66 with 1:32 left in overtime.
The Bulldogs got a layup from Nicolas Claxton to make it 69-68, then Maten blocked a shot by Macon and Harris hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie it at 69-69 with 35.9 seconds left.
Barford tried to hit the game-winner, but Claxton blocked it with nine seconds left and Georgia couldn’t get off a good shot.
“That was a crazy game, having it go two overtimes,” Macon said. “All the conditioning we did, all the times we ran Cleveland Hill in the preseason, it paid off tonight.”