BASKETS, fouls come in bunches for Notae.
The University of Arkansas didn’t have its top scorer Monday on the floor for the last 13-plus minutes in an 81-72 loss to Baylor in the Elite Eight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Guard JD Notae, the SEC’s sixth man of the year and the Razorbacks’ most effective scorer against the Bears, was gone in a flash after picking up his fourth and fifth fouls in a 20-second span in the second half.
Notae was having one of his better nights, with 12 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting and only 2 fouls at intermission.
But in the fast-paced game, Notae drew his final three fouls in the span of 1:44, leaving at the 13:38 mark on a charging call drawn by Baylor’s Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua on a close play on the left block.
Notae had just picked up a foul on the defensive end on a three-point play by Tchamwa Tchatchoua after an offensive rebound. Just before that, he was whistled for a foul on Davion Mitchell’s driving layup, leading to a three-point opportunity. Mitchell missed the free throw, leaving Baylor ahead 55-48 at the 15:22 mark.
“We needed him to play tonight,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “And, quite frankly, his dribble penetration, we were just going to see how long he could play out there. And then he picked up a fifth way too early.
“But I thought he played great offensively and certainly we needed him to play as many minutes as he could when he’s playing like he was tonight, because he had a good rhythm and flow to the game and kind of understood how their defense was playing him. Unfortunately, defensively, he just picked up way too many cheap fouls.”
Notae left with the Razorbacks trailing 58-48. He had a team-high 14 points at the time on 5-of-6 shooting, including 2 of 2 from threepoint range.
He had picked up more than three fouls in only three games all season, and had fouled out just once on Dec. 5 in a win over Lipscomb.