Early knockout
MSU held to 9 points in 1st half
FAYETTEVILLE — Bobby Portis was tied with Mississippi State at halftime, and when Arkansas’ sophomore forward hit a jump shot with 16:37 left in Saturday’s game in Walton Arena, he had outscored the Bulldogs by a point.
“For real?” Portis said after the game. “It’s cool, but I don’t really care about scoring. I’m just trying to win.”
The Bulldogs eventually caught Portis, but they couldn’t get close to the Razorbacks as Arkansas won 61-41 before an announced crowd of 17,404.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said the Razorbacks’ defense made it difficult on a Bulldogs team that came into the game having won four of its past six SEC games.
“I thought our defense was really geared towards taking them out of whatever they wanted to do,” Anderson said. “We had great
ball pressure. They got nothing easy, even when they had layups or dunks. Our guys were rotating on defense and blocking shots. Just harassing them.”
Mississippi State failed to score over a 13:18 span of the first half as Arkansas put together a 20-0 run to move ahead 27-7.
The game was tied 7-7 after Mississippi State forward Gavin Ware hit a jump shot with 14:38 left in the half, but the Bulldogs missed their last 16 shots in the first half to finish 2 of 21 with 14 turnovers.
“It was crazy,” Arkansas guard Anthlon Bell said. “Everybody was active on defense and they were barely getting the ball upcourt.”
I.J. Ready, the Bulldogs’ sophomore point guard from Little Rock Parkview, hit two free throws with 1:18 left to cut the Razorbacks’ lead to 27-9. Bell hit a three-point basket for 30-9 halftime lead.
Mississippi State’s nine first-half points set a Walton Arena record for fewest in a half.
Portis scored nine of his 19 points in the first half to tie Mississippi State’s total, and he led the Bulldogs 16-15 at one point in the second half.
“You’ve got to give Mike and his team a lot of credit,” Bulldogs Coach Rick Ray said. “I think they played really well and did a good job defensively against us.
“I thought for us as a team, we simply didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the ballgame with our first-half performance. I thought we went out there and played as individuals instead of as a team. We just simply put our head down in half-court offense and tried to go make plays where plays aren’t there.”
Two plays exemplified Mississippi State’s first-half woes: There was Arkansas’ 6-6 senior Alandise Harris blocking a dunk attempt by the 6-9 Ware and Ready dribbling the ball off his foot when he had a breakaway to the Arkansas basket.
“It was getting pretty bad,” Ware said. “Everybody started criticizing instead of lifting up.”
Harris and Arkansas teammates Anton Beard and Moses Kingsley drew charges in the first half on drive attempts by the Bulldogs.
“Early in the year, guys just went through our defense,” Anderson said. “Now as you funnel guys in there, we’re protecting the rim, blocking shots, taking charges. That just tells me our guys were zoned in on the defense.”
Arkansas junior guard Michael Qualls, questionable before the game because of sprained right knee, started and played 23 minutes but shot 1 of 9 and scored a season-low 3 points.
Bell scored 12 points, his highest total in 13 games. Harris added nine points and Ky Madden seven for the Razorbacks (18-5, 7-3 SEC).
Ware led the Bulldogs (1112, 4-6) with 16 points and nine rebounds. Ready had 4 points, 3 assists and 2 steals but shot 1 of 6 from the field with 3 turnovers.
The Bulldogs had recorded road victories at Auburn and Tennessee during their recent surge.
“We had that confidence, but we started rushing,” Ware said of the first-half struggles. “Everybody felt that they had to get us back on track, and that’s what led to us not being a team, us being individuals.”
The Bulldogs shot 50 percent in the second half (12 of 24) but still finished 31.1 percent for the game (14 of 45). They had 24 turnovers.
Arkansas has held its past five opponents to a combined 35.4 percent shooting and 59.4 points per game.
“That’s a statement,” Bell said. “We know that we had to trend in the right direction on defense to win.”
Anderson said the Razorbacks are doing a better job of trusting each other on defense, making smarter decisions on switches and focusing on the fundamentals.
“Along with that, our guys are playing with maximum effort,” Anderson said. “They’re taking pride in wanting to play defense.”
Ray said the Razorbacks have the luxury of having forwards like Portis and Harris who can switch off ball screens and keep perimeter players in front of them.
“Then when they have that switch and you throw the ball in the post, they come post trap to eliminate that problem,” Ray said. “They just do a good job of covering up anything that may happen.”
The Razorbacks are 5-1 in their past six SEC games. They beat South Carolina 7555 on Tuesday night and have back-to-back 20-point victories after playing four games decided by five or points.
Portis said before the South Carolina game that he was hoping for some lopsided victories.
“I got my wish that I asked for,” Portis said. “I said that I wanted to win by 20 or 30 points, and it’s happened these last two games.
“Hopefully, our team can keep it going.”