WholeHogSports
ARKANSAS 86, INDIANA 72 : One down, No. 1 next
Posted on Saturday, March 22, 2008
URL: http://www.wholehogsports.com/adg/220470/
RALEIGH, N. C. — Arkansas ’ NCAA Tournament victory drought is over.
The ninth-seeded Razorbacks beat eighth-seeded Indiana 86-72 on Friday night in a first-round game of the East Regional at the RBC Center for their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1999.
Arkansas (23-11 ) advances to play No. 1 North Carolina at 4: 20 p. m. Central on Sunday in the second round. The Tar Heels beat Mount St. Mary’s 113-74 on Friday night.
The Razorbacks last played a top-ranked team in the tournament 12 years ago, when they lost to Massachusetts 79-63 in the 1996 East Regional semifinals at Atlanta.
“It feels great [to win ],” said Arkansas senior forward Sonny Weems, who had a career-high 31 points against Indiana and hit 12 of 14 field-goal attempts and 4 of 4 free throws. “We feel if we can play one of our best games against Carolina that we can move this thing forward.”
Razorbacks senior center Darian Townes was strong inside with 17 points and a teamhigh 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard Patrick Beverley added 12 points.
Indiana senior center D. J. White, the Big Ten Player of the Year, had 22 points and nine rebounds, but ended the game on the bench with cramps in both legs.
Hoosiers sophomore guard Armon Bassett added 21 points, hitting 5 of 7 three-pointers.
Eric Gordon, Indiana’s freshman guard who was averaging a Big Ten-leading 21. 3 points coming into the game, was held to eight points and shot 3 of 15 from the field. He was 0 of 6 on threepoint attempts.
“I just thought physically and athletically they were superior to us,” Dan Dakich, Indiana’s interim coach, said of the Razorbacks.
“I think collectively they just played harder than we did,” Bassett said.
Arkansas senior point guard Gary Ervin was of 0 of 3 from the field, but hit 7 of 8 free throws, and had 7 assists compared to 3 turnovers.
“Ervin didn’t get a basket, but he was in control of his team,” Dakich said. “He was a pure point guard that was in control of the situation, I thought, at all times.”
Arkansas improved to 40-28 all-time in NCAA Tournament play, but had lost five consecutive games since beating Siena 94-80 at Denver on March 11, 1999.
The nine years between NCAA Tournament victories was the longest such span for Arkansas since a 32-year stretch from 1946 to 1978.
“We’re not really worried about the past,” Weems said. “This is the present, this is what it is now. We’re just trying to go farther in the tournament.”
Indiana (25-8 ) ended the season with a three-game losing streak and was 3-4 in its last seven games after Kelvin Sampson resigned under pressure as coach amid allegations of NCAA recruiting violations and Dakich was promoted from assistant to interim coach.
But the Hoosiers didn’t use that an excuse for their loss to Arkansas.
“We were focused on this game,” Indiana senior forward Lance Stemler said. “We just couldn’t get it done.”
Arkansas led 39-30 15 seconds into the second half after Weems hit an 18-foot jumper, but Stemler’s three-point basket pulled the Hoosiers within 49-47 with 12: 28 left.
Arkansas then outscored the Hoosiers 12-3 over 3: 39, including two putbacks by Townes and a three-pointer and 15-foot jumper by Weems, to push the Razorbacks’ lead to 61-50 with 7: 41 left.
Indiana didn’t pull closer than six points the rest of the game.
“This game was real special,” Townes said of earning an NCAA Tournament victory. “We had a downfall in the SEC Tournament [losing to Georgia in the final ], but we kept our focus and we got it done tonight.”
After starting 5 of 17 from the field the first 12 minutes, Arkansas went 21 of 31 from the field the rest of the game and finished shooting 54. 2 percent from the field (26 of 48 ). The Razorbacks also hit 26 of 33 free throws, including their first 11.
“I really felt like coming into this game that [the Razorbacks ] would play very well,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said. “Now, the challenge for them is to have some repeat success in terms of their effort, their focus, their level of play. Because this is the NCAA Tournament and our next opponent is unbelievable.”
Dakich noted his friendship with Stan Heath, who was fired as Arkansas’ coach after last season, and former Razorbacks assistant Dan Hipsher.
Heath is now the coach at South Florida and Hispher is his assistant.
“They told me they left a good team at Arkansas,” Dakich said. “And they did.”
White hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1: 09 left to pull Indiana within 37-30 at halftime.
The Hoosiers had a chance to make it a five-point game in the half’s final seconds, but White missed a dunk attempt on a shot contested by 7-0 Steven Hill.
Arkansas jumped out to a 5-0 lead on a layup by Townes and three-point basket by Vincent Hunter.
Indiana then scored the next seven points and took a 7-5 lead on a putback by junior forward DeAndre Thomas.
The Razorbacks went ahead 9-7 when Weems hit two free throws with 16: 15 left in the half after Dakich was called for a technical foul by official Ed Corbett.
A three-point basket by Stemler put Indiana back in front 10-9.
Two free throws by Arkansas senior guard Gary Ervin gave the Razorbacks an 11-10 lead.
Indiana then moved ahead 16-11 as White hit two baskets and Gordon scored on a drive.
Two three-point baskets by Arkansas sophomore guard Stefan Welsh helped give the Razorbacks a 27-21 lead.
The Hoosiers made it 27-23 on White’s tip-in.
Three-pointers by Beverley and Weems helped push Arkansas’ lead to 35-25 with 3: 13 left in the half.
It was only the second time Arkansas and Indiana have played. The Hoosiers beat the Razorbacks 75-50 in Bloomington, Ind., during the 1949-1950 season.
Injury report Arkansas guard Stefan Welsh stepped on an Indiana player’s foot and went down screaming after rolling his ankle at the 7: 18 mark of the first half. Welsh pounded the court a couple of times and grimaced in pain as Arkansas trainer Dave England attended to him, then helped him hobble off the court. Welsh did not return in the second half. The sophomore guard gave the Hogs a scoring lift off the bench in just four minutes of action in the first half with two three-pointers and six points, just as he did in the first two games of the SEC Tournament, when he went 7 of 11 from threepoint range. Welsh was playing in front of a group of family members, who traveled from Newport News, Va.