Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
FORMER AREA
teammates set to face each other.
FAYETTEVILLE — Former North Little Rock High School teammates Anton Beard and KeVaughn Allen will face other for possibly the final time Wednesday night in Gainesville, Fla.
Beard is a senior guard for the Arkansas Razorbacks. Allen is a junior guard for the Florida Gators.
Wednesday night is the teams’ only regularseason meeting, though the Razorbacks and Gators could meet in postseason play.
“Yeah, it means a little bit more,” Beard said of playing Allen. “But I wouldn’t put pressure on things going into the game.
“I’m playing for the Razorbacks. He’s playing for Florida.”
Beard said he and Allen remain friends and stay in touch despite being on opposing SEC teams. They most recently talked to each other about two weeks ago, Beard said.
“We’ll probably talk next week some time when they play somebody else,” Beard said. “But we don’t talk the week of our game. It’ll be something we bring up in the future.”
Beard is averaging a career-high 11.1 points and shooting 40.9 percent from the field, including 32.8 percent on three-pointers.
Allen, a preseason AllSEC first-team pick, is averaging a career-low 10.3 points. He averaged 12.3 points as a freshman and 14.0 as a sophomore. In SEC play, Allen’s scoring is down to 6.6 points.
For the season, Allen is shooting 34.9 percent from the field and 29.1 percent on three-pointers.
In Ole Miss’ 78-72 victory over Florida on Saturday, Allen shot 2 of 9 from the field — including 1 of 6 on three-pointers — and scored 5 points.
“I’ve got to find a way to get him going somehow,” Gators Coach Mike White told the Gainesville Sun.
In SEC games, Allen is 5 of 17 on three-pointers.
“We do shooting drills in practice where he’s knocking it down really consistent,” White said. “In talking to him, he’s a man of few words, but he feels confident, he feels good about himself. I don’t know what it is.
“I would bet he would have a big game pretty soon. I was hoping it would be against the Rebels.”
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Coach Mike Anderson said that with the success Allen has enjoyed over his career at Florida, he remains at the top of opponents’ scouting reports.
“He’s very capable,” Anderson said. “As a coach, I know that. I don’t know what has contributed to [Allen’s struggles]. Maybe he’s just not shooting the ball well. But it can turn
like a switch. You turn that switch on a guy, he just goes off.
“Let’s hope it isn’t this game here. But he’s a very, very good basketball player.”