Gafford comes on to help carry Hogs
FAYETTEVILLE — Daniel Gafford’s SEC debut played out much like the 6-11 freshman’s season in a nutshell. It got better as time passed. Gafford finished with 15 points and game highs of 8 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in 33 minutes during the Arkansas Razorbacks’ come-frombehind 95-93 overtime victory against No. 19 Tennessee at Walton Arena.
Most of Gafford’s damage came during Arkansas’ second-half recovery, including his vicious dunk on a feed from Daryl Macon that gave the Hogs their first lead at 73-72 with 45 seconds left in regulation.
Though he didn’t score in overtime, his offensive presence down the stretch in regulation not only helped the Razorbacks battle back from a nine-point deficit, it also helped get Tennessee big men Kyle Alexander, Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield in foul trouble. All three fouled out, along with guard Jordan Bowman.
“I thought that was big,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said of Gafford’s second-half surge. “I didn’t think we did a good job of going inside [in the first half].
“But once we started going inside, it started putting their people in foul trouble. Before you know it — boom, boom, boom — we’re in the one-and-one.”
Senior guard Jaylen Barford said Gafford’s still learning.
“I know he struggled in the first half because he wasn’t used to that physicality,” Barford said. “He had Williams and Schofield banging him, so it just took encouragement and keep pushing because he is a young freshman.
“I think that second half he really helped us out a whole lot. He got blocked shots, deflected shots, getting great rebounds … and the dunk to actually put us up one in the last minute.”
The first couple of touches didn’t turn out well.
The forward from El Dorado missed two short shots in heavy traffic with the 6-11 Alexander putting a body on him and using his long wingspan to affect Gafford’s shots.
Gafford scored on a putback lay-in at the 14:40 mark to pull Arkansas within 16-14, but those were his only points in the first half. He had just two rebounds in the first half while shooting 1 of 3 before heading to the bench after picking up his second foul at the 4:30 mark with the score tied 26-26. The Volunteers outscored Arkansas 12-5 with Gafford on the bench the rest of the half.
He found his rhythm with 12 points in the second half, scoring five consecutive Arkansas points in a two-minute stretch that featured a powerful drop-step and short shot and a baby hook, his second of the game.
“Daniel is a great player,” Macon said. “He has so much potential. I don’t even think he knows it. To have a big like that, it takes a lot of pressure off us. We can just throw it down and trust him to go to work.”
Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes said Gafford is good.
“Throughout a 40-minute game you’re going to see guys adjust to what’s going on,” Barnes said. “They’ve got to learn to adjust to officiating. They’ve got to adjust to how they’re being guarded, how the scouting report reads on them.”
Gafford finished 6 of 9 from the floor and finishing with four fouls.
Gafford continued to have his struggles at the free-throw line. He finished 3 of 9 to drop to 39 of 70 (.557) on the season.