Shared from the 1/13/2018 El Dorado  eEdition

Razorbacks aiming to stop three-game skid

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Craven Whitlow/Special to the News-Times

Taking aim: Arkansas' C.J. Jones attempts a shot during the Razorbacks' SEC contest against LSU in Fayetteville earlier this week. Arkansas hosts Missouri today.

FAYETTEVILLE - Some likely deemed the Missouri Tigers already done when projected one and done to the NBA freshman phenom Michael Porter required season-ending back surgery after just one game.

Meanwhile, it was just last week that the Arkansas Razorbacks were ranked No. 22 in the country and were 11-2 overall and 1-0 in the SEC coming off an overtime win over previously ranked No. 22 Tennessee.

Well, not everything is as its seems for some who deem.

For as Missouri (12-4, 2-1) and Arkansas (11-5, 1-3) meet in this evening’s 5 p.m. SEC game televised by ESPN2 at Walton Arena, it’s the Tigers on the rise and the Razorbacks plummeting in free fall.

First-year coach Cuonzo Martin’s Tigers nearly defeated Florida, the lone unbeaten in SEC play, falling 77-75 in Columbia, Mo. They have won 79-68 at South Carolina and last Wednesday night in Columbia, defeated Georgia 68-56.

Meanwhile for their last SEC three games, coach Mike Anderson’s Razorbacks have lost 78-75 at Mississippi State, at Auburn 88-77, trailing 47-30 at the half, and on Wednesday in the biggest shocker at Walton, trailed LSU 41-21 at the half and before losing 75-54, hitting but 19 field goals in 57 attempts and needing to shoot 54 percent in the second half to reach the 19 after hitting but 6-of-33 in the first half, including just 1-of-11 3-pointers.

“We can make 19 field goals in 10 minutes,” Anderson said postgame Wednesday of his team that in 10 games this season has scored between 92 and 104 points. “But tonight it didn’t happen.”

And despite the Porter injury, good things have been happening for Mizzou, which only went 2-16 in the SEC under former coach Kim Anderson, but last season did upset a 26-10 Arkansas team 83-78 in Columbia after Arkansas trampled the Tigers 92-73 in Fayetteville.

Both knowing Martin, who formerly coached in the SEC at Tennessee before coaching the University of California and heading east to Mizzou, and how some teams step up to compensate for a fallen star, former Mizzou coach Anderson said he’s not surprised to see the Tigers rise.

“A lot of teams that’s when they play even better,” Anderson said. “Because when you don’t have someone, it gives other guys opportunities to showcase what they’re doing. Cuonzo is doing an excellent job of really getting those guys to play at a high level, playing with great energy and certainly we have to come out with great energy.”

Martin has blended old and new at Mizzou. Against Georgia, Martin started three newcomers, 6-11 center Jontay Porter, the brother of Michael Porter, 6-10 freshman forward Jeremiah Timon and 6-3 guard Kassius Robertson,a graduate transfer from Canisius University.

The trio joined returning lettermen Jordan Barnett, the 6-7 senior forward dittoing Robertson with a team-leading 15.4 scoring average, and 6-2 junior guard Jordan Geist.

Junior forward Kevin Puryear, often Mizzou’s best player the previous two seasons, didn’t start against Georgia, but was cited by Martin for his great defense against Georgia star forward Yante Maten while scoring seven of his nine points in succession on a key Missouri run.

Mizzou veteran guards Terrence Phillips and Cullen Van Leer also play off the bench.

Anderson mentioned them all, particularly Barnett, the transfer from Texas averaging 3.7 more points than he did last season at Missouri.

“Barnett is a guy that can really light it up,” Anderson said. “They’re playing with a lot of energy. They’re playing defense and they’re shooting the basketball well.”

The Razorbacks did none of the above against LSU, Anderson knows.

“The LSU game, I didn’t think we showed up with the sense of urgency the we have to show up with,” Anderson said. “But that game is over and now we move on to the next game against a Missouri team that’s playing awfully well.”

Just as Arkansas did until the New Year hit after the Hogs beat Tennessee on Dec.

30.

“We’ve got to get back to playing like the way we played early in the year,” Anderson said. “We had started trusting one another and the ball was moving and our defense went up another level. And our bench was really playing well.”

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