Barford steps up for Razorbacks in win

FAYETTEVILLE - It wasn’t Scotty Thurman hitting the shotclock beating 3-point dagger into Duke securing Arkansas’ irrevocable lead in the 1994 national championship.

But Jaylen Barford’s shotclock beating deep three with 3:31 left in Thursday’s late night 69-64 SEC Tournament victory over South Carolina accomplished similar results while advancing the Razorbacks into Friday’s late night SEC Tournament quarterfinals game against the Florida Gators at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.

A senior guard, Barford thrust a second dagger with a steal and layup at 2:52 extending what had been only a 61-59 lead before the trey to 66-59 after the layup.

The dribbling, dribbling, stepback three drew immediate postgame questions.

“I guess it was kind of like a horse shot,” Barford said. “So I used that. I knew it was good when it left my hands. And he sat back a little bit, so I shot while the clock was running down.”

What about the steal and layup?

“They ran the play the whole time,” Barford said. “So I just kind of played it a little bit. And he didn't see me. It was a big play down the stretch, and we needed that stop. It was good, and we just kept playing defense and knocking down

free throws.”

Though only shooting 2-for-10 from the field including 0-for-5 on treys, Arkansas senior guard Daryl Macon iced it hitting the last two of his 8-for-8 free throws with 39 seconds left to advance Arkansas up 68-64 before Arkansas senior guard Anton Beard’s free throw with 13 seconds left tallied the game’s final point.

Macon and Barford have been doing it for Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks throughout this 22-10 season going into Friday night’s game.

Thursday night it was mostly Barford, though it appeared he might foul out before the finish.

“First of all, he got his fourth foul with maybe like five minutes to go,” Anderson said.

“I think we were leading, and then, of course, they made a run. I figured, you know, it's time to just let him ride it out.

“So he came in with like 3:59 or 4:59, I don't know. He's supposed to make big plays.

“He's a tremendous player, and he sees the opportunity.

“Made that big shot when the shot clock was running down. And then (with the steal) proceeded to anticipate what they were doing and took advantage of it.

“That's what good players do. We needed somebody to step up for us, and he was one of those guys to step up.”

Anderson stressed the plural. Because a lot of Razorbacks had to overcome a lot of things, including being outrebounded, 42-29 to prevail.

Getting to and capitalizing on the free-throw line, 23-of-26 to South Carolina’s 10-of-16, proved pivotal.

So did the surprising nine points with 5-of6 free throws and four rebounds and three steals by sophomore forward Adrio Bailey, starting in place of dismissed from the team senior Dustin Thomas, and nine off the bench points by freshman swingman Darious Hall, 4-of-5 from the field with one of Arkansas four treys and a step.

“They came in, and they played with a lot of energy,” Macon said. “They were critical on the defensive end. So I've got to congratulate those guys on that.” Barford concurred. “Yeah, it was big for us,” Barford said. “They were getting big rebounds, deflections, and just active all over the floor. Darious hit some big shots.

“Adrio hit some big shots and a free throw. We weren't surprised by their presence tonight, but it was great for us.”