Arkansas Ready For Quick Turnarounds...

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FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas plays the first of four games in the next eight days tonight against Tennessee State, but the Razorbacks aren't worried about the quick turnarounds.

Arkansas played three games in four days to win the Paradise Jam on Nov. 19-22 in the U.S. Virgin Islands and coach Stan Heath put his team through the most grueling off-season of conditioning in his three years in Fayetteville.

"It's nothing new," said junior guard Eric Ferguson. "We've done it already."

Sophomore small forward Olu Famutimi said this stretch will prove just how well-conditioned the Razorbacks are.

"It'll show how hard we worked in the offseason and how much heart we have," he said.

Heath knew his team would open with tournament play and came into the season with the plan to wear down the opposition with fullcourt defense and a steady stream of fresh bodies.

The evidence of the extra work has been clear so far.

Arkansas has consistently shot better percentages in the second half while forcing its opponents lower.

Top-ranked Illinois shot just 7 of 21 in the second half and didn't make a field goal in the last seven minutes of its 72-60 win against Arkansas on Dec. 4.

Three days later, Missouri was 0 of 9 on 3-pointers and 8 of 28 overall in the second half in Arkansas' 62-52 road win. After Arkansas hit only 39 percent in the first half against the Tigers, the Razorbacks shot 60 percent in the second half.

Sophomore captain Ronnie Brewer, who leads the team with 16.3 points per game and is the only player averaging more than 30 minutes, said this stretch is good preparation for Southeastern Conference and postseason play.

"Our SEC conference schedule, you play so many games on a quick turnaround," Brewer said. "Plus, it gets you ready if we make it to the NCAA Tournament. You have to play a lot of games in a few days.

"I think it gets us ready mentally and physically and shows what kind of team we are."

This quick sequence of games will also benefit freshman forward Marcus Monk, who is getting his basketball legs back after leading SEC freshmen in receiving with 37 catches for 569 yards and 6 touchdowns for the football Hogs.

"It's going to take time," Monk said. "I can't just get right in one day. I'm being patient right now.

"It's good to get my wind back right."

Monk, a smart young man by any definition, has picked up quickly on Arkansas' schemes and said his main goal is to refresh his muscle memory in the basketball basics.

"I know the fundamentals, but it's just getting it back to instinct," he said. "Learning the plays and learning the schemes. It's coming along. You just have to be patient."

TOWNES ENJOYS ROAD GAMES
Arkansas won't travel again until heading to Gainesville to play Florida on Jan. 8, but that's not soon enough for 6-foot-10 freshman center Darian Townes.

Townes had one of his best games of the season with 7 points on 3 of 4 shooting and 3 rebounds in 14 minutes at Missouri.

He grabbed all his rebounds and scored six straight points during a crucial stretch of the first half to help Arkansas gain a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

Townes struggled in the early home exhibition season trying to impress the hometown fans, but he said he enjoyed his success at Missouri partly for the consternation it caused the Tiger fans.

"Playing on the road is kind of fun," Townes said. "You got people going against you. If you make a shot, you can either taunt them back or give them a funny look. I like playing on the road."

 

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FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas did more in its first seven games than get off to its best start in seven years and earn the Razorbacks' first victory against a major nonconference opponent in 19 tries.

The Razorbacks have found their identity.

That's clear within moments of talking to any of them.

"We want to beat a team by scoring, but we don't want to let them score much," said sophomore small forward Olu Famutimi.

"We want to win by playing defense."

Arkansas (6-1) resumes play tonight in Bud Walton Arena - after a nine-day break for final exams -against Tennessee State (5-4).

The Razorbacks ended an 0-18 slump against teams from the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and Atlantic Coast Conferences with their 62-52 win atMissouri on Dec. 7.

The game was ugly by offensive standards with 37 missed field goals in the first half and 37 combined turnovers for the game.

But for Arkansas coach Stan Heath, the game was beautiful.

Arkansas blocked 7 shots, swiped 10 steals and forced Missouri into 29 percent shooting (17 of 57).

The Razorbacks lead the Southeastern Conference in blocks (49) and are second in steals (10.4 per game) and field-goal percentage defense (37), just behind No. 20Mississippi State (36.6).

Arkansas is second in turnovers forced with 19.1 per game, behind only No. 9 Kentucky (20.7).

"Last year, if we were shooting good from the outside, we'd feel good about ourselves," Heath said. "This team, if we're shutting people down, getting deflections, making defensive plays, blocking shots, we feel good about ourselves.

"That's something we feed off. That's something we can do all the time."

Heath knew his team had the size and athleticism to be strong defensively, but with several scorers on the perimeter he wasn't sure how long it would take for them to buy into his philosophy.

"I didn't think they'd pick up on things so quickly," Heath said. "Not just the different things we're doing, but how to help each other, how to cover up for each other, how to be a good teammate on the defensive end."

Arkansas should continue to hone its reputation and pad its defensive stats tonight against Tennessee State as the Tigers average 20.6 turnovers.

The Tigers will be at a distinct size disadvantage against Arkansas, which now has eight players 6-foot-6 or taller with the addition of 6-6, 225-pound dual-sport freshman Marcus Monk, who led SEC freshman in receiving this year with 37 catches for 569 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Monk, who could see limited action tonight after less than a week of real practice, will eventually bring his defensive ability to guard any position on the floor.

The Tigers' tallest player is 6-9, 240-pound forward Rod Flowers, who is averaging 16.7 points and 10.7 rebounds per game after Tennessee State's 86-67 win against Alabama A&M on Tuesday.

Hogs 7-foot freshman center Steven Hill -- who is leading the SEC in blocks at 3.57 per game, and with 25 through seven games is on pace to shatter the Arkansas freshman season record of 60 -- will draw the early assignment on Flowers.

Hill has shown the ability to guard smaller and quicker players with his footwork and excellent timing to block shots.

Hill helped harass Missouri star forward Linas Kleiza into a 6 of 16 shooting night, got No. 1 Illinois' big men James Augustine and Jack Ingram in foul trouble and did the same to Eastern Michigan forward John Bowler in the title game of the Paradise Jam on Nov. 22.

Bowler had averaged a double-double in the first two games of the tournament but fouled out with 13 points and 5 rebounds in only 22 minutes against the taller Razorbacks, who swatted 10 shots in their 82-64 win.

After taking struggling junior captain Jonathon Modica out of the starting lineup for the first time this season against Missouri in favor of junior transfer point guard Dontell Jefferson, Heath may shuffle his starters again tonight.

Heath wants Modica to get more involved during the Razorbacks' final six nonconference games and he's had some good practices over the finals break.

Heath could also switch at the power forward spot, where freshman Charles Thomas has started the last four games.

Junior power forward Rashard Sullivan, who started the three games at the Paradise Jam, has led Arkansas in rebounding for three of the last four games while coming off the bench.

Other than Modica-Jefferson or Thomas-Sullivan possibilities, Heath looks pretty well locked into Ronnie Brewer, Famutimi and Hill as starters.

Eric Ferguson, who is second on the team in minutes (25.4) and scoring (12.6) and first in assists (4.1), comes off the bench and likes it that way.

"The starting lineup isn't a major thing for me," Heath said. "It's who's playing well and the combinations that are working well together.

"That means executing, that means defending, that means running the floor and rebounding. If they do those four things, we're going to be a team that plays well. It won't matter who we play. The end result, no matter what the scoreboard says, we're going to feel good about ourselves."

 

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Different looks: Hogs face multi-faceted Tennessee State tonight

BY NATE ALLEN Northwest Arkansas Times



Tennessee State University isn?t a college basketball household name, but Cincinnati, Georgia, St. John?s and UMass are.

So maybe Tennessee State is a bigger name than many think. Cy Alexander?s Tigers bring four who once played for those programs into Walton Arena against Arkansas tonight.

Tipoff is 7 p.m. and will be televised by the Arkansas Razorback Sports Network.

It?s the first game since their Dec. 7 victory at Missouri for Stan Heath?s Razorbacks, 6-1 and now done with final exams.

The Tigers, 5-4, are one game out of finals. They won, 86-67 last Tuesday night at home in Nashville over Alabama A&M.

TSU is 5-0 at home and neutral sites and 0-4 in true road games vs. Western Kentucky, Vanderbilt, Southern Illinois and Middle Tennessee. Middle Tennessee, 96-94, and Western Kentucky, 76-73 in overtime, were close. "We?re 5-4 but easily could be 7-2," said Alexander, the veteran former South Carolina State and second-year TSU coach.

The transfers infuse a program Alexander said was "at rock bottom" before he took over. "Tennessee State," Heath said, "has guys on their team I know have played at high levels."

One, 6-9, 240-pound senior center and ex-Cincinnati Bearcat Rod Flowers still soars. Flowers averages a healthy double-double (16.7 points and 10.9 rebounds). He garnered 18 points and 19 rebounds against Alabama A&M Tuesday night. "He?s a force inside and can step outside as well," Heath said.

Shot-blocking freshman center Steven Hill will open guarding Flowers, but expect all in a Razorback big-man rotation of power forwards Charles Thomas and Rashard Sullivan and freshman center Darian Townes to get a piece of Flowers, too.

Junior 6-3 guard Wayne Arnold, averaging 10.2 points and 4.0 rebounds, is the former Georgia Bulldog while 6-7, 230-pound junior power forward Eric King, 7.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, formerly played for St. John?s.

Kareem Grant, a 6-6 forward averaging 10.4 points off the TSU bench, formerly played at UMass.

TSU?s other listed starters, 6-3 sophomore guard Bruce Price and 6-6 senior forward Roshaun Bowens, average 13.7 and 9.2 points.

Alexander not only has blended a lot of different players, he?s got them doing a lot different things. "This is a team that gives you a lot of different looks," Heath said. "Zone, man, box and one. So it?s important for our guards to recognize what they are in. Offensively, they look to score inside first, but they shoot a lot of threes. They are not a team we can just roll the ball out and play."

Notes Richardson, the former Razorback assistant and son of former Razorback coach Nolan Richardson, formerly coached TSU, but tonight?s game was not a contractual holdover from either Richardson. "Some time last summer is when they agreed," Heath said. "Cy was in place."

Heath wants his Hogs ? heads in place, coming out of finals. Tonight?s game and Arkansas? three following December nonconference games could be ideal to introduce freshman forward Marcus Monk and reintroduce senior forward Mike Jones.

Jones has been 10 th man in a nine-man rotation this season, but he?s got the team?s best 3-point shooting range. "I definitely want to get Mike some minutes," Heath said. "He could be very valuable for us making shots."

The Razorback football team?s leading receiver in 2004, Monk, a 6-6 Lepanto native All-State in football and basketball, already impresses Heath with his defensive versatility. "He can guard a lot of different people," Heath said, "one through four and it wouldn?t shock me if he could guard a five [a center]. He doesn?t get up close because with his long arms he can keep his distance and still get deflections."

Monk hasn?t had much practice, but could play some tonight. "I?d like to get him in there," Heath said, "but we are playing to win first."