You want to talk about a team that is a bigger head scratcher or more sporadic than Arkansas, it’s Texas A&M.
They’ve got the talent and depth to be a real threat but for some reason(injuries and suspensions shouldn’t really be a problem for them) they are falling short in league play.
I see this game like the Oklahoma State game as a toss up.
We are playing on the road and in an environment where we will get worse calls than we did this past Saturday.
The biggest concern is our post play. Tyler Davis for A&M is everything for them. So the post play of Gafford vs. Davis will be interesting. Gafford is by far more athletic and has the better vertical. Davis is more seasoned and is stronger than Gafford, which worries me on the offensive side if he pushes Gafford around. Arkansas only have 2 big men and A&M has 4, so post play might be critical in this game, especially where fouls are concerned.
A&M has good guards, but overall our guards are better.
Our saving grace in this game is A&M is sporadic to not that great at shooting the 3 ball and they aren’t very good at free throws.
We can definitely win, but we need to stay out of foul trouble(which will be hard in aggieland) and keep locking down our defense. We have GOT to knock down our free throws. This a game where if we shoot like we know we can, free throws can push us over the line to victory, we have to have them.
This game aint no toss up, A&M will be favored. A&M is a great example of what I’m talking about, our conference is very tough this yr. They beat WV, OSU, USC (West), battled back against KU on the road, but have only won 2 conference games. They’re marking us as a must win game for certain. That being said, I think Arkansas is getting to a point they can compete against anyone-anywhere, if EVERYONE is shooting well, and they play Defense… Arkansas is figuring out some things, they’re coming together, when it all gel’s, we’re going to have a pretty show to watch…
I haven’t seen the line for this game. Which ever team comes out hitting shots will win! We threw up bricks from the field and free throw line at home aginst Okie Lite. If that happens tomorrow night we better hold A&M to 50 points. For some reason we missed gummies baskets down low that normally we make.
Bardford needs to have a good game! Trey will need to be used on Davis Gafford can’t go one on one with him or he will be on the bench a lot in foul trouble. This needs to be a up tempo knocking down shots game and we need to build a lead from the opening tip. The roller coaster of coming back needs to change course a little.
Maybe CJ Jones hits 4 to 6 3’s and Hall get into double figures. Those 2 guys pitching in will be the difference in this game. Bardford, Macon, Beard and Gafford should all be in double figures.
The defensive glass is where A&M will try to beat the hogs. Pressure the ball and deny the pass to low block and we should turn them over.
Hogs 75
Aggies 60
LOL… Sorry, but that score has a less that 0% chance of happening. We’re not good enough yet to get that kind of result on the road. It’s coming, but it’s a work in progress. A&M is a way more physical team that we’re, they’re by far the best Rebounding team in the SEC, 3rd in blocks, #1 in Assists. Gafford, Thompson, Cook, Thomas, and Hall will have to display board toughness, and overall toughness that they haven’t shown this yr, to even have a chance. If I had to guess the actual score will be more like:
A&M 75
Hogs 66
A&M is a 5 point favorite and more than that, they have the advantage of being a younger team this late in the season. Younger players improve more than seniors as the season progresses. Seniors, have already had most of their improvement.
Hogs 81 - Aggies 79 or Aggies 68 - Hogs 62. I know that’s a big difference in scores, the first score reflects what we’re capable of doing and the second score reflects what can happen if we come out flat against a team on the road that might play up to their capabilities for the first time this year. The inconsistency of our team causes me to look at things realistically and not just as a Hog fan and what I hope will happen. We are close as CBB use to like to say of being a very good team and in this situation it’s true, the things that need we need to improve at are doable. One of our biggest issues is that our best offensive team is our worst defensive team at times and vice versa which puts CMA in quite a dilemma. A win tonight would be huge on the road and help our tournament resume. WPS
hogs are due for a game where the entire team shoots well on road, and A&M isn’t the saltiest on defense so hopefully guys like Jones, Hall, and Beard can knock down some shots from perimeter. we do need Barford, Macon and Gafford to all have good games to win. i echo the sentiment that Thompson will have to bow up and guard Davis because Davis will manhandle any other player in post. hopefully our guards will apply enough pressure to theirs that it makes entry passes tough. if A&M is hitting 3’s it will be almost impossible to beat them unless we are hitting everything we lob at the goal. Gilder and Hogg worry me with our less than serviceable perimeter defense. hopefully our press will bother them alot.
Oh I know. I said that in my opening statement. I once lived in aggieland and came to a Razorback away game there. It was one of the worst officiated games I’ve ever seen. Bad charge call on Beard instead of an and 1. And a bad no call for Barford and travel call on Barford(Davis can travel, just not anybody else). Essentially, taking at least 6 points off our score.
I’m actually proud of our boys. They played with poise when a lot of things were going wrong. The script flipped where the first 10 minutes we were playing really well offensively, but the last 10 we went a little cold till the last 3 minutes. Still only down by 1 and not having to climb out of a big hole to start the second half.
Our big men both have 2 fouls. If I were coach, I would ask the refs coming out how they will call this second half because we need to be the beneficiary of getting some calls.
We’re not shooting great, especially from 3, but love that Anderson could rotate Macon and Barford in and out for each other. Look for a fresh duo for the second half because we’ll need them. Jones needs to keep shooting. Hall needs to continue to be aggressive. And most of all, if we can get something from Gafford, we can get at them good. A&M is running mostly a 2-3 zone. If we can get the 3 ball going, we can put a hurt on them.
There has been several scores by Davis, and rebounds, that was because of him shoving people with both hands to get position. It’s absolutely ridiculous. The SEC needs to do something about officiating, they were supposed to correct home cooking this year, but other than us, it seems like every team in the league gets it.