Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Barford’s gimmes
Hogs survive on guard’s steal, layup
GREENVILLE, S.C. — One second Jaylen Barford was stealing the ball from Seton Hall guard Khadeen Carrington on the Pirates’ end of the court.
The next second — actually four seconds later — Barford was catching a pass from Manny Watkins and scoring on a layup during the pivotal sequence of the Arkansas Razorbacks’
77-71 victory Friday over Seton Hall in a first-round NCAA Tournament game at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Barford and Dustin Thomas double-teamed Carrington, and Barford knocked
the ball away.
Thomas said he tapped the loose ball to Watkins, who saw Barford running to the Razorbacks’ basket.
“It was just a heads up play by J.B and D.T. to trap him,” Watkins said. “They hit it to me, and I was in my stance, so I was ready to react on the ball.
“I got it, and I saw J.B. wide open, so I just threw it up to him. That got us the lead change, and we didn’t look back after that.”
Barford’s basket put the Razorbacks ahead 72-71 with 57 seconds left.
Barford and Daryl Macon then combined to hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 18 seconds to clinch the victory, including 3 of 4 after Seton Hall’s Desi Rodriguez was called for a flagrant foul after pushing Barford in the back.
How did Barford transition so fast from defense to offense?
“Once I tipped it, I knew Manny was going to get the ball,” Barford said. “So I just took off. “
Watkins, a senior, didn’t hesitate to get Barford the ball.
“He’s just fast,” Watkins said. “He’s got that athletic ability, and we trust him in the open court with the ball. I knew it was going to be a bucket.”
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson joked about Barford’s defense in his postgame news conference.
“Actually, he was playing terrible defense, that matador defense I tell him he plays,” Anderson said. “But he was in the right place at the right time.”
Seton Hall had five of its 15 turnovers in the final eight minutes — including another by Carrington when he was called for traveling with 24 seconds left — to help Arkansas overcome a 64-56 deficit.
“I thought our defense got dialed in right there at the end,” Anderson said. “I thought fatigue was a factor in this game, too.”
Three Pirates played 36 minutes — Carrington, Rodriguez and Madison Jones — and combined for nine turnovers.
Seton Hall junior center Angel Delgado — a first-team All-Big East pick — had 12 points and 13 rebounds, but he also had 5 turnovers in his 31 minutes.
Arkansas senior center Moses Kingsley was the star big man Friday with 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
Barford, a junior guard who transferred from Motlow (Tenn.) State Community College, contributed 20 points, 7 rebounds and 4 steals.
Arkansas senior guard Dusty Hannahs had 14 points and junior forward Dustin Thomas had 13 points.
Carrington scored 22 points to lead Seton Hall (2112). Jones added 11 points.
“We had our opportunities,” Seton Hall Coach Kevin Willard said. “You’ve just got to give them credit. They played really well.”
Coming from behind to win away from home is nothing new for the Razorbacks. They trailed by 12 or more points in road victories at Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, LSU and South Carolina.
“Coach told us to keep chipping away,” Hannahs said. “He knows we don’t lose our head.
“We’ve been down a lot of this year, and we just stayed focused on the task at hand and knew we had to get stops.”
Seton Hall scored three points on its last 12 possessions over the final 6:47.
“Once we started getting stops and pushing the tempo up, the game was going in our favor,” Hannahs said.
Arkansas improved to 9-2 in games decided by eight or fewer points.
“I think we’re built for close games,” Hannahs said. “Your dream is to win comfortably, but when it’s a grinding, twopoint game, I think that’s when we’re at our best.”
After the game was tied 37-37 at halftime, Seton Hall moved out to a 42-37 lead on Jones’ driving basket.
Arkansas came back to go ahead 51-46 as Thomas scored five consecutive points.
Carrington sparked a 18-5 run by the Pirates, scoring eight points, for a 64-56 Pirates lead with 8:41 left.
Kingsley hit a bank shot to put the Razorbacks ahead 70-68.
Rodriguez hit 1 of 2 throws and Carrington scored on a drive to give the Pirates a 7170 lead.
“It was kind of a grinding game,” Anderson said. “Then you had some spurts where each team went up, and it was back and forth.”
In the end, Barford’s plays on defense and offense within seconds of each other produced the winning points.
“I feel like that steal was the biggest play of the game,” Thomas said. “It was great hustle by Jaylen on both ends. He deserved to get that basket.”