Former Comet shoots to forefront
The Razorbacks double-downed on Darious Hall Tuesday night in Oxford, Miss., and they promised to reward him doubly upon their return to Fayetteville.
Even while shooting an abysmal 1 of 7 free throws, the 6-6 freshman out of Little Rock Mills, posted his first University of Arkansas double-double with 14 points and
11 rebounds. He was instrumental in defeating the Ole Miss Rebels (11-15, 4-9 Southeastern Conference), 75-64.
“Pats on the back and double-doubles for everything,” Hall said when asked how his teammates reacted. “They told me, ‘Let’s go to McDonald’s and order a double cheeseburger with Day-Day on the side.’”
Hall said the points portion of his double-double became occurred with a go-with-the-flow approach.
“I just played my game with a lot of intensity,” Hall said. “It started with defense and it worked on offense.”
His teammates noticed. By the second half, they were looking for him to score like they customarily look to senior star guards Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon. Barford and Macon average
19.4 and 18 points, respectively, in SEC games, while Hall averages six. On Tuesday, he outscored them.
Barford scored 13, while Macon’s streak of scoring 20 or better stopped at seven games. Macon only scored four points, but did deal a game-high six assists.
Daniel Gafford, the 6-11 freshman, scored 19 points to lead Arkansas’ offense.
“I’m very happy for them to get that,” Barford said. “They were hot, so we were just keeping going to them.”
The Razorbacks (18-8, 7-6) only led 53-52 with just 7:34 to play when senior center Trey Thompson found Hall for a
3-pointer. Senior Anton Beard followed with a 3-pointer at
7:11. Suddenly, the Hogs were up 59-52 and pulling away on yet another Hall trey as part of an 18-1 run.
“My teammates found me and I just told them ‘Keep coming to me,’” Hall said. “And they said, ‘Play my game and they would keep coming to me,’ and that’s what they did.”
More importantly, Hall said, the Razorbacks turned it up defensively upon Ole Miss twice in the second half cutting its 11-point halftime deficit to one.
“We said we were going to get three stops in a row and that’s exactly what we did,” Hall said.
Now, he intends to work to amend what he did not do well.
“It was a bad free throw game for me,” Hall said. “I’ll get in the gym and continue to work on it.”
Arkansas head basketball coach Mike Anderson said he would take Hall’s performance on Tuesday, even with the missed freebies. He said he believes it is an issue that will be remedied.
“He’ll get better at it,” Anderson said. “Trust me, he’ll work on it. He’s all about the team winning.”
So is Beard, Anderson said, noting he proved it against Ole Miss by scoring 13 points and directing traffic.
“I thought Anton Beard led this team,” Anderson said. “He made big-time shots for us, he made big plays for us. He looked like the little general out there in charge.”
Badly outplayed by the frontline of Texas A&M (17-9,
6-7) in the 80-66 SEC loss to the Aggies Jan. 30 in College Station, Texas, Gafford comes into Saturday’s 3 p.m. rematch with the Aggies at Bud Walton Arena off of big games in Arkansas’ three consecutive SEC successes.
He posted 11 points, six rebounds and three blocks in the 81-65 home win over South Carolina (13-13, 4-9) and
scored 16 with nine boards and seven blocked shots in the victory over Vanderbilt (10-16, 4-9) in Fayetteville. His 19 points and six rebounds against Ole Miss came despite two early fouls.
Had Ole Miss played anybody but Arkansas Tuesday night, it is obvious Anderson would have been pulling for Andy Kennedy The Ole Miss coach announced Monday he will resign effective at the season’s end after 12 years with the Rebels.
“To Andy Kennedy, a dear friend, it hurts my heart to see him step away,” Anderson said to open his postgame press conference in Oxford. “So, I want to pay my respects to him. He’s a great coach, and more than that he’s a great person.”