Arkansas’ win over Little Rock a tale of two halves

FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks (4-1, 0-0 SEC) allowed a large advantage at halftime to dwindle to just seven points before they pulled away to beat the Little Rock Trojans (3-3, 0-0 OVC) 79-67 on Friday night at Bud Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks started the game fast and strong both offensively and defensively, and used five turnovers to jump out to an 11-0 lead that would later extend to 39-19 with just under three minutes before the half and 42-24 before the two teams went to the locker rooms.

But in the second half, sloppy play evidenced by 12 Arkansas turnovers allowed the Trojans to make several dents in that lead and make the game much more difficult for the Hogs than expected.

“Thank goodness it’s November, and again, you have a chance to put somebody away, and you mess around,” Arkansas head coach John Calipari said postgame. “So at half, instead of being up bigger and bigger, we’re up 18. So the first five minutes of the half set the tone for the rest of the game. First play, what did we do? We gave them a layup under the basket.”

In the first half, it seemed as though Arkansas was in for an easy night. Freshman guard Boogie Fland didn’t miss any of his five shots and had five assists and two rebounds. Forward Adou Thiero was also perfect on his three attempts and had three steals and a block to his name.

“They’ve got a good team,” Little Rock head coach Darrell Walker said postgame. “Do they have more talent than us? Absolutely. But I knew we could compete better. That first five or six minutes of the game we were a deer in headlights. We were terrified for no reason.”

But when the teams came out of the locker rooms for the final 20 minutes, Arkansas looked like a different team. Fland was 1-for-6, that lone make a three-pointer that essentially thwarted a final comeback attempt by the Trojans. The Razorbacks turned the ball over 12 times and the Trojans took advantage with 14 points off those turnovers.

Thiero still looked good, as he scored…

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Author : HawgBeat

Publish date : 2024-11-24 12:30:00

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