Hogs win despite rough start

FAYETTEVILLE - A win is a win.

That was the prevailing theme among Arkansas’ players and coaches following the Razorbacks’ 56-53 victory over Auburn on Wednesday at Bud Walton Arena.

As had been feared by Arkansas’ faithful, the Razorbacks weren’t sharp following a big win over Michigan last Saturday.

It was a hangover fitting for a Sunday, expect this encore came during the midweek. Four days after the Razorbacks hit their first 11 shots en route to the upset over the ranked Wolverines, Arkansas looked drained early against Auburn.

In a complete role reversal, the Razorbacks missed their first eight shots overall and hit only four before halftime. After scorching Michigan for 46 first-half points, the Razorbacks trailed Auburn 22-19 at the intermission.

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said he didn’t say much to his team in the locker room, instead letting the players work out the struggles among themselves.

Whatever he did worked. After hitting only 14.8 percent of their shots in the first half, the Razorbacks made 55.6 percent of their shots after the break. Julysses Nobles hit a pair of 3-pointers, helping to quickly erase the memories of the first 20 minutes.

“That’s part of hopefully the leadership and the ownership,” Anderson said. “They’ve got to take some ownership as well. They saw how they played, and they know what’s at stake. That sense of urgency has got to come from them.

“I said what I needed to say and they knew what I was talking about. Hopefully it wasn’t one of those deals where it was, ‘Rah-rah, let’s go.’ No, I think they did some in-depth thinking and said ‘Let’s turn this thing around.’”

But after Arkansas started the second half well, things began to look grim again when Auburn – with just one win away from home all season – used a 7-0 run to build a seven-point lead. The 11,350 in attendance were once again stunned.

But even more stunned was Auburn’s bench. Against a team shooting less than 30 percent for the game, the Tigers (12-8, 2-4 SEC) knew they had missed some golden opportunities, a lead that slim wasn’t safe and the Razorbacks would warm up for good sooner or later.

“We had our opportunities to build a bigger lead, but we are what we are offensively,” Auburn coach Tony Barbee said. “We don’t have great spurt-ability, so when you guard a team like we did in the first half and a team shoots 14 percent, you should be up 20-plus points.

“We were playing well defensively, but they missed some shots they typically make.”

Arkansas (15-5, 3-2 SEC) answered Auburn’s run with a 7-0 spurt to tie the game, punctuated by Rashad Madden’s 3-pointer with 11:03 to play.

Beyond the arc was a hot spot for the Razorbacks on Wednesday. After struggling before halftime, Arkansas hit 5 of 9 shots from 3-point range in the second half.

Rickey Scott’s 3-pointer with 8:54 remaining gave the Razorbacks the lead and his three-point play moments later gave Arkansas the lead for good at 45-43.

Scott scored all eight of his points in succession for Arkansas.

“Rickey came off the bench in the second half, and I thought he came out with a different focus and obviously that focus was defensively, and it led to some offensive things,” Anderson said. “It was great to see him knock some shots down and play with some confidence.”

Arkansas made only three baskets after Scott’s last field goal with 6:53 remaining, but the Razorbacks’ defense held firm. Arkansas forced 21 turnovers in all, none bigger than Madden’s steal and outlet for a BJ Young slam with 20.2 seconds left to give the Razorbacks a 56-51 lead.

Madden and Mardracus Wade each missed front ends of 1-and-1 free throw opportunities in the final minute, but Kenny Gabriel’s 3-pointer at the buzzer sailed over the rim.

“I feel like it was a great look,” said Gabriel, who finished with a game-high 13 points. “I should have knocked it down and we should still be out there playing.

“They went on a run and when they made shots, the crowd really got into it. It really didn’t bother us but we didn’t make a few plays down the stretch, and I think that’s what really hurt us.”

Arkansas improved to 15-0 at Bud Walton Arena, its best start at the venue since finishing undefeated there in 1997-98. The Razorbacks continued to learn how to win, even if it wasn’t like any of the wins before.

“I can attribute it to the Michigan hangover,” Anderson said. “That’s what you call that, where you’ve heard all the pundits and people talk about what they did against a very good Michigan team, not knowing we’re getting ready to go into conference play, and every team is capable of beating anyone at any point in time.

“It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but there are all kinds of ways to win a game.”

And in the end, a win was all that mattered.

You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.