I am always glad when a late game finishes on time and I was able to get back to Little Rock around midnight. Glad Hogs cooperated. I thought Arkansas would run away with it after the second media timeout but it took a lot longer. It went about the way the poster daboar predicted, Good call.
It was 37-33 Arkansas. Hogs had just turned it over and Evans who scored 16 in the first half, missed a wide open transition 3 from the corner that would have made it even tighter. But then Joe gets his own transition 3 that he hardly misses and another 3 and game over.
Jimmy Dykes called Whitt automatic from around 12 feet during the LSU game and he was all that. My Dallas buddy called me on the drive back home and was amazed how well Jimmy is shooting that midrange jumper. He said he was never that at SMU and also wasn’t that good from the FT line. Well done Jimmy and the staff for the improvement.
After watching Mason last night, I wondered what he was trying to do. There were scouts from Milwaukee Bucks and Detroit Pistons at BWA last night. He was coming off a 9 assist game at Ole Miss and he got a lot of praise for that.There was a lot of dribble, dribble and he passed many open shots to the point he got out of rhythm and began to hesitate when he finally did shoot. Seemed to me he was more interested in ball handling skills and generating assists than scoring. There were a few exasperated “shoot” yells from the crowd around me. I yelled once myself. I couldn’t tell from my seats if that is what Musselman wanted. Hope he gets back to the scorer he is on Saturday.
BTW, has everyone noticed that when Hogs are having trouble hitting threes, it is Sills who takes the lid off the basket?
As far as Joe and Jones not being hot last night, that is fine, Three point shooters go on streaks and then cool off a bit and get hot again. Hopefully last night was that valley.
Yeah have no clue what Jones was doing last night,he passed up a couple of wide open shots and I saw muss jump all over him one time…well he better bring his A game Saturday and score about 20 points for us to have any chance to win. He is in a shooting funk right now so I don’t know what to expect out of him to be totally honest I just know if he gets one point again Saturday we’re going to get smoked.
Last night Whitt took his first 3 point shot attempt of the season. He was at the point with the shot clock running down. It was a good shot too, hit the front of the rim, dead on. Another inch or 2 and Jimmy would be 1 of 1 on 3 point shots.
Wasn’t the shot clock winding down, but rather the game clock at the end of the first half. We got the ball with 2.5 seconds remaining in the backcourt after Vandy stepped out of bounds. First inbound attempt just past half court was deflected out of bounds by Vandy. Second inbound was with only 1.8 remaining. It was a catch and shoot for whomever got it. They covered Joe and Sills well, leaving Jimmy as the only open receiver. Pretty tough shot.
Jones was called for a walk on the one 3 he made last night and it wasn’t any different than the shot Kentucky took last night to tie the game at South Carolina. Players get by with walking, carrying the ball and pushing off with the off arm when they drive all the time.
Jones needs to take his shots but he also needs to pass for the dunks when they are available. When Desi made that first 3 last night it was a relief for it to drop.
Whitt needs to keep moving without the ball and the other players need to take note of the way he is getting open. Chaney was able to finish on his shots last night and he was aggressive. The hog will need a total team effort to beat Kentucky! One game at a time and I hope Whitt continues to score!