Arkansas upsets Providence in NIT

Arkansas upsets Providence in NIT

Razorbacks set for second- round matchup with Hoosiers

www.arkansasrazorbacks.com

Five-seed Arkansas dominated No. 4 Providence from start to finish and won 84-72 Tuesday night at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in the first round of the NIT.

The Razorbacks (18-15, 8-10 SEC) were without sophomore big man Daniel Gafford, who announced his plan to sign with an agent and declare for the NBA Draft on Monday.

Given the way Arkansas finished the season by losing seven of the last 10 games, few gave the Hogs a chance against the Friars (18-16, 7-11 Big East). Did the experimental rule changes in the NIT help?

Maybe it was the deeper 3point line? Maybe it was the wider lane? Could it have been a group of young men who simply had a lot on the line? The rumor mill has been churning this week regarding head coach Mike Anderson’s job security and whether or not the players had given up on him. They clearly have not. “Just a total, total team effort,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said in his postgame radio spot. “I had a saying for the guys. I said, ‘You are the sum of all the parts,’ and when you’ve got all the parts that are coming out, and they’re playing well, doing the things that they do, you’ve got a chance to be pretty good. That looked like one of our basketball teams that predicated their defense and then created some easy offense for us.

And we did a good job of really spreading the floor and taking advantage of the mismatches that we had.”

After junior forward Adrio Bailey made a layup with 19:35 to play in the first half, the Razorbacks held a lead for the rest of the game. With 13:04 left in the half, Arkansas guard Mason Jones knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Hogs went up by doubledigits with an 11-point lead, 20-9. Arkansas led by at least 10 points for the remaining 33 minutes and 4 seconds of the game.

“I knew that we all had to have confidence in each other. We all went out there, we all played with energy, we played together and everything flew.

Everything went well for us,” Arkansas forward Gabe Osabuohien said.

“We knew that because we lost Dan, Dan averaging a lot of points and a lot of rebounds, everybody had to step up. It wasn’t just going to be one person who stepped up.

Everybody had to step up in everything we do.”

Arkansas led by as many as 16 points in the first half, 36-20, on a bucket by Reggie Chaney with 3:56 to play. They led by 18 in the second on a dunk by Ethan Henderson with 9:12 left to make it 67-49. The Hogs opened 5 of 5 from 3-point range, and Osabuohien led the Razorbacks with 11 points and eight rebounds in only 17 minutes. Sophomore Mason Jones put up a team high 18 points on 5-for-8 shooting to go with four rebounds and four assists.

Freshman Reggie Chaney scored 14 and had five rebounds before fouling out.

Arkansas was 29 of 57 from the floor (50.9 percent), 10 of 21 from 3point range (47.6 percent) and 16 of 21 from the free throw line (76.2 percent).

In rare fashion, the Razorbacks out-rebounded Providence 36 to 35 but lost the turnover battle, 149. The Hogs relied on their bench, outscoring the Friars 41-16. Led by 19 points from Maliek White, Providence was just 24 of 62 on field goal attempts (38.7 percent), 3 of 23 from the arc (13 percent) and 21 of 30 from the line (70 percent) in their final game of the 2018-19 season.

The Razorbacks took a 42-31 lead into halftime and were 15 of 30 from the floor. The Hogs connected on 5 of 9 treys and 7 of 9 free throw attempts in the first half. All nine players who saw action in the first half had at least three points, led by eight from Chaney.

Arkansas was also losing the turnover battle early, 7to-4, but they led on the boards 22-13. Big man Nate Watson led the Friars with 7 points as Providence went 13 of 31 on field goal attempts (41.9 percent) and 5 of 10 from the free throw line.

The new 3-point distance was getting to the Friars as they were just 0 of 11 to start from downtown.

Up next, the Hogs head to Bloomington (Ind.) to take on the 1-seeded Indiana Hoosiers. Arkansas beat Indiana 73-72 earlier this season in Bud Walton Arena on Nov. 18.

From the Arkansas Razorbacks