Tag: Jaylin Williams

Hogs ‘3’ is lucky, but unlucky against South Carolina

Arkansas was deadly out of the locker room and the Hogs rolled South Carolina for a third straight SEC win on Tuesday.

Arkansas basketball is looking like Arkansas basketball again.

The Razorbacks went on an 18-1 run to start the second half, turning a seven-point deficit into a 10-point lead and beating South Carolina, 75-59, on Tuesday night.

The win is Arkansas’ third straight after starting SEC play 0-3. The win will keep the Razorbacks in the NCAA Tournament conversation and a win Saturday against Texas A&M could lift them back into the picture completely.

Arkansas forward Jaylin Williams scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds. He was one of four Hogs players who scored in double figures.

But Arkansas saw a streak of 1,092 games snapped with a 3-pointer. Before the Hogs’ 0-for-11 night against South Carolina, the last time Arkansas had played without making a 3 was against Texas in January 1989.

Beyond the Box: Reborn on the Bayou

If the 2021-22 Razorbacks make another magically run deep into March, we may all look back to this game at Baton Rouge as the turning point.

If the 2021-22 Razorbacks make another magical run deep into March, we may all look back to this game at Baton Rouge as the turning point. It was the type of gritty road win you’d expect from a good team. It’s a unifying event that could signal the turning of a corner for a team that still has time to put it all together. And it was all done with its head coach back in Fayetteville recovering from surgery.

Assistant coach Keith Smart took over game day operations and rose to the moment just like he’s done in the past. No, it wasn’t a clutch jumper in a championship game. But he was cool under pressure after LSU built an 8-point lead with 8:00 to play, and that attitude clearly rubbed off on his team.

As usual, we will take a look here at a few things that jump out from the game that you won’t see in the standard box score.

Turnovers down the stretch allows Arkansas to upset LSU

Turnovers and cold shooting hurt LSU late in the second half.

On Saturday afternoon, the Arkansas Razorbacks upset the LSU Tigers upset 65-58. The loss drops LSU to 15-2 and Arkansas 12-5.

With seven minutes left in the game, LSU was up by eight points and seemed in control of the game. But the Razorbacks went on a 10-0 run to take the lead. During the last six minutes, LSU went cold from the field and had six crucial turnovers.

The Tigers struggled from the field as a team, shooting 38.2% from the field and 26.3% from three-point land. The Razorback shot 41.8% from the field and 29.4% from beyond the arc. Arkansas outrebounded LSU 41-31, the Razorbacks got hot at the right time, and turnovers were costly for the Tigers.

Darius Days struggled in the game, scoring just three points on 1-8 shooting from the field. LSU had just one starter in double figures Eric Gaines had a team-high 14 points. Tari Eason and Alex Fudge scored 13 points apiece.

JD Notae led Arkansas in points with 19. Jaylin Williams was a monster on the boards for the Razorbacks, grabbing 13 rebounds; he also scored 11 points and had three steals. The Razorbacks did a great job staying active on the boards and played outstanding defense.

LSU will look to rebound from their loss against Alabama on Wednesday as they hit the road.

Beyond the Box: Razorbacks Reset

It was over by the first TV timeout. Midway through the first half the Hogs were finishing off a 19-0 run, Mizzou had only scored 5 points, and every Arkansas fan was probably thinking the same thing: “This is exactly what the Muss Bus needed!”

It was over by the first TV timeout. Midway through the first half the Hogs were finishing off a 19-0 run, Mizzou had only scored 5 points, and every Arkansas fan was probably thinking the same thing: “This is exactly what the Muss Bus needed!”

Fourteen Razorbacks logged time on the floor en route to Arkansas’s overwhelming 87-43 victory at Bud Walton Arena. Trey Wade, who scored his season high of 17 points, was the only Hog to play more than 30 minutes. Head Coach Eric Musselman was able to play multiple combinations and continue to evaluate on-court chemistry.

As usual, we will take a look here at a few things that jump out from the game that you won’t see in the standard box score.

Arkansas’ rally falls short at Texas A&M as Hogs fall to 0-3 in SEC

Arkansas wilted during an 18-0 Aggies second-half run and the Razorbacks began SEC play 0-3.

Arkansas dug itself a hole it could not overcome.

An 18-0 Texas A&M run in the early minutes of the second half sent the Razorbacks to a third straight loss in SEC play and their fifth loss in their last six games with a 86-81 win in College Station on Saturday afternoon.

The Aggies (13-2, 2-0) dominated the game the way Arkansas would have preferred: balance, speed and defense. Five different Aggies players scored in double figures. Texas A&M had 28 points off 18 Arkansas turnovers, as well.

JD Notae did what he could for the Razorbacks (10-5, 0-3), scoring a season-high 33 points on 11 of 23 shooting, including a 5-for-8 game from the 3-point line. He was joined in double figures by four other Arkansas players, but everyone not named Notae, Jaylin Williams (10 points on 5 of 8 shooting) and Stanley Umude (10 points on 4 of 8 shooting) shot a combined 25%.

Arkansas made it interesting in the last three minutes, pulling back within a point after trailing by as many as 17 midway through the second half. But Quenton Jackson made a 3-pointer to put A&M ahead by four points with 33 seconds left and the Hogs ran out of time.

The Razorbacks last started 0-3 in SEC Play in 2008-09. They finished that year 2-14 in-conference.

Arkansas returns to Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday to play Missouri.

Why Arkansas basketball can still make the NCAA Tournament

Arkansas basketball has the talent and the coaching to turn its season around and make the Big Dance.

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December was a cruel, cold month for the Arkansas basketball team. Spring, however, to steal and modify a phrase, is coming.

ESPN’s Bracketology dropped the Razorbacks from the predicted teams to make the NCAA Tournament with its latest update on Friday. And per the network’s Basketball Power Index, Arkansas faces long odds to return. Of 18 games the Hogs have remaining, 10 come against teams ranked inside the Top 30. Seven are against teams inside the Top 20.

By no means, though, is Arkansas out of it.

Coach Eric Musselman is known for taking lemons and turning them into lemonade. And it’s not as though Arkansas’ team in 2021-22 is actually that much of a lemon. They started the year 9-0 and were ranked inside the Top 10. Weaknesses were evident through those nine victories and Musselman even said as much. But what allowed nine straight wins was talent.

Arkansas has the talent. Even if it has yet to gel, more than half the season remains.

Guard JD Notae is still the second leading scorer in the SEC. Stanley Umude, Au’Diese Toney and Chris Lykes are still players who averaged double figures at their previous schools of South Dakota, Pittsburgh and Miami (FL). Devo Davis is still the player who broke out in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Jaylin Williams is still one of the best point-forwards in the sport.

And Musselman is still a coach who led a mish-mash collection of Razorbacks to the Elite Eight in 2020-21.

The margin for error is slim. Arkansas cannot afford to drop games against teams it is better than. Starting Tuesday when Vanderbilt visits Bud Walton Arena, the Razorbacks have to win. They don’t have to make a statement in that win, necessarily, but they must come out on top. The road is too tough to hoe going forward.

Follow that with a road victory at Texas A&M, an Aggies team, by the way, nipping at the heels of the Hogs in the power index. Beat a bad Missouri team back in Fayetteville after that and suddenly the Razorbacks are 3-1 in the SEC with a chance to visit Baton Rouge and knock off an LSU team that’s all but a lock for the Dance.

That sort of stretch is all that’s required to get the Hogs back into the hunt. Sure, it ignores the last month of the season and all the difficulty it will bring. But winning begets winning and if Arkansas can string together some in the early weeks of the new year, then things are far from over.

Arkansas overwhelms Charlotte, starts 9-0

Arkansas’ size, strength lift Razorbacks over Charlotte, 86-66.

Charlotte pulled within single digits late, but Arkansas held off the charge and beat the 49ers, 86-66, on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena.

The win makes Arkansas 9-0 on the season, tying the second best start for the program since 1993-94, the year the Razorbacks won the national championship.

A 7-0 Charlotte run cut Arkansas’ lead to nine with just 5:03 left, but the visitors missed their next six shots from the field, allowing the Hogs to pull away.

JD Notae led all players with 23 points for Arkansas. He managed a double-double, too, grabbing a season-high 10 rebounds. Three other players joined him in double figures, including Jaylin Williams, who scored a career-high 15 points.

Austin Butler led Charlotte with  points, while Devo Davis (18) and Chris Lykes (13) joined Notae and Williams in double figures.

Arkansas travels to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday to play future SEC foe Oklahoma at the BOk Center at 12:30 p.m.

Projecting Auburn basketball’s starting lineup

Who do you think starts at small forward?

Auburn has something they haven’t had at every position under Bruce Pearl.

Depth.

The Tigers dipped into the transfer portal and picked up three transfer guards to solidify the depth there. Auburn can go four-deep at small forward. The Tigers have a spot-up shooter in Jabari Smith at power forward… and don’t forget Auburn has three centers on the roster who are expected to play significant minutes.

This is easily the most well-rounded roster Bruce Pearl has ever had. The issue doesn’t lie in the talent, but in the fact that there may be too many mouths to feed.

Here is the projected starting lineup for Auburn basketball’s season opener vs Morehead State. Keep in mind that Allen Flanigan will be out until mid-December.

Early look at 2021-22 Auburn basketball potential starting lineup, key contributors

Auburn has added three quality players including former 5-star recruit Walker Kessler heading into the 2021-22 season.

The Auburn men’s basketball roster will not look as different as it did this past season but there are many changes to Bruce Pearl’s team.

With the departure of Sharife Cooper to the NBA draft, Justin Powell, Jamal Johnson and Javon Franklin to the transfer portal and the possibility of J.T. Thor also going to the NBA, Auburn has hit the portal hard for talented players including Zep Jasper, Wendell Green and Walker Kessler.

All-in-all, the Tigers will be a much improved team after a season in which Auburn had no experience returning.

Here’s a quick look at a potential starting lineup along with key contributors for Pearl.

Everything Jaylin Williams, Allen Flanigan said after Auburn’s win over South Carolina

Auburn’s Jaylin Williams and Allen Flanigan spoke after the Tigers’ big victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

Jaylin Williams, F, So.

 On what allowed them to score 109 points during the game…

“The scouting report was big because it helped us in knowing who could guard who and knowing who was struggling to move their feet for the other team. We got our plays and we had to change them up a little bit because South Carolina’s coach, he’s a good coach, so we had to flip them up a little bit for him, and then they struggled to guard us so we just penetrated. When Sharife penetrates, they have to throw to him or he’s going to finish at the rim.”

On the team’s mentality after losing the lead to Arkansas…

“Especially at halftime when we saw we were up, I don’t know by how much, so going into the locker room I was thinking, ‘Man, we can not blow this lead.’ Going into the locker room we all got together and we kind of kept our energy up together, jumping around, happy, keeping our same energy to come out with in the second half. I believe we did so.”

On his own offensive performance…

“It was fun. Me, I don’t really care too much about having a big scoring game. We were struggling to win and that was good for me, I just wanted to win. I know BP told me to be more aggressive and do more things, but just the team win was big for me today.”

On scoring off turnovers and rebounds…

“South Carolina is leading the league in offensive rebounds so we know we had to bust them out and so when we got rebounds we know they were bad at getting back in transition so knew we had to bust out. I know in transition, Sharife is unbelievable so he’s going to find somebody or he’s going to get it to the rim.” 

Allen Flanigan, G, So.

On what Auburn did better Saturday vs. Wednesday…

“We communicated better and just played to make plays for other guys, for the most part.” 

On the pressure he puts on himself and his mentality changing from a freshman to a sophomore…

“My mentality and everything had to change in a big way, real quick, through the summer and through the quarantine phase, but really just being a leader and a guy that other guys can look at – the younger guys – and following what I do try to lead by example, and just be a great teammate.” 

On what it means to accomplish a lot during the game as a young team…

“Everybody who comes to Auburn, we come here to make history. So just really just being able to make history and get out here and play great. We made history tonight.”