Tigers stirring on senior night
The Arkansas Razorbacks upended the Southeastern Conference-leading Auburn Tigers Tuesday on their emotional senior night at Bud Walton Arena.
They know they enter the wrong side of senior night today against the Missouri Tigers
(19-11, 9-8). Arkansas (21-9, 10-7) will face the Tigers at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.. ESPN2 (Resort Channel 29) will broadcast the game at 5 p.m. as both teams conclude their regular season schedules.
Senior guards Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon attained membership in Arkansas’
1,000-points club in their second seasons in Fayetteville after transferring from junior colleges. Freshman Daniel Gafford compiled 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven blocks to complement 36 points from the high-scoring senior tandem.
The 91-82 result dropped No. 14 Auburn (24-6, 12-5) into a first-place tie with Tennessee
(227, 12-5) going into the SEC’s swan song before the conference tournament next week in St. Louis. A win could give Arkansas a double bye beyond Wednesday and Thursday’s play-in games and into Friday’s quarterfinals.
The Razorbacks must cope with senior night inspiration as Missouri bids adieu to Jordan Barnett, Kassius Robertson, and Brett Rau.
Rau, a walk-on, has only played nine games this season, but Barnett and Robertson are integral parts and showed it back on Jan. 13 when Arkansas eked out a 65-63 home win as Missouri missed the game’s last shot. Robertson scored 26 points with eight rebounds, while Barnett double-doubled with 12 points and 10 rebounds and dished three assists.
Robertson is a graduate student transfer from Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., but is certainly adopted by the Mizzou faithful, leading the Tigers with a 16.6 scoring average. Four-year letterman Barnett, lettering the last three seasons under former coach Kim Anderson, is a mainstay, averaging
13.9 points and 5.9 rebounds. “Robertson has become a tremendous player for their basketball team,” Anderson said. “Their leading scorer. Barnett, now he’s shouldered a lot more responsibility. It’s going to be an electric atmosphere.”
An atmosphere likely so electric it would be no shock to see the Tigers jump on Arkansas early.
“You know the emotions are going to be running high,” Anderson said. “I think you just have to withstand that first five minutes, man, the first flurries. The punches are going to be come.
“You have to be able to withstand it and eventually you’re going to have to play basketball. That’s the biggest key there, just being poised, and that’s where your leadership has to step in.”
Much of the pregame hype hasn’t been so much on Missouri’s seniors as on a freshman. Michael Porter, Jr., was considered perhaps the premier prospect in the country and certain to be one-and-done when Cuonzo Martin signed him.
He injured his back just two minutes into the season opener in November and has not played since, but was cleared to return practice this week and likely will not request a redshirt since the NBA scouts will want him long before his collegiate eligibility clock expires.
Still, Martin does not want any undue risk to Porter’s NBA future by playing him Saturday if he is not fit.
“Well, the bottom line with that is, this (Thursday) will be Mike’s third real practice outside of two shootarounds before games,” Martin said. “He’ll have a practice Friday. Then we’ll make a decision, I guess Friday night or Saturday if Mike’s ready to play.”
“We prepared for them
when they came here (in January) like he was going to play,” Anderson said. “So it’s no different. He’s a tremendous basketball player.
“He’ll be, I’m sure, impactful on their team, but we’ll prepare like we prepare for everybody else. It’s the last game and we just have to go do the things that we do.”