Patience waning for Hogs

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas opened the season with eight basketball games in a 21-day span, but the Razorbacks haven't played since last Sunday afternoon.

The wait for Arkansas (6-2) to play Dayton (7-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Walton Arena seems even longer to the Razorbacks because they are on a two-game losing streak, losing to No. 14 Iowa State (95-77) on Dec. 4 and at Clemson (68-65) in overtime Sunday.

Those losses haven't gone over well with Coach Mike Anderson, Arkansas sophomore forward Bobby Portis said.

"Coach has been killing us, really harping on defense this week," Portis said. "Me, personally, I can't wait until Saturday to play. It's been a long wait from Sunday."

The Clemson loss was particularly frustrating because Arkansas led 57-51 with 1:17 left in regulation after Portis scored on a layup. Anderson said the team suffered "a meltdown" in losing to the Tigers.

"It was pretty disheartening, because we've worked extremely hard and all we've talked about is being able to finish," Anderson said. "The finishing part is, you get the ball, you secure it, make them foul you. You've got a two-possession game.

"I thought we just made some bad decisions, but we'll learn from it."

Arkansas had turnovers on its final three possessions of regulation after passes by Anthlon Bell and Ky Madden led to steals for Clemson. Madden then lost control of the ball trying to get off a shot before regulation ended.

Anderson said on his postgame radio show he accepted blame for the loss and that he wished he had put junior guard Jabril Durham into the game when the Razorbacks were trying to protect the lead.

Madden, a senior and returning starter, has 46 assists this season compared to 23 turnovers, but he had 5 assists and 5 turnovers at Clemson. Anderson said Thursday putting Durham in the game would have given Arkansas another ball-handler to take some pressure off Madden.

"I think a lot of times we see the ball in his hands, and obviously sometimes the decisions he makes aren't the right decisions," Anderson said of Madden. "Sometimes you try to do too much. I think that's to a fault for Ky. It's not like he's not trying."

Madden has responded well in practice this week, Anderson said.

"He's got a little edge on him now, and that's what we've got to play with," Anderson said. "I think whether we play at home or on the road, we've got to play with that edge."

Anderson said another problem late in the Clemson game and the overtime period was not getting enough touches for Portis, who had 18 points and hit 9 of 16 shots. He missed his two field-goal attempts in overtime.

"I really felt like it was hard for them to match up with Bobby," Anderson. "Our mind-set was, 'Hey, let's see if we can get the ball into Bobby.' We just didn't do a good job of it."

Arkansas was ranked No. 18 when it played Iowa State and Clemson, up from No. 25 the previous week -- the Razorbacks' first ranking in seven years.

Arkansas dropped out of the national polls this week.

"Sometimes you get a pat on the back and it sets you back," Anderson said. "I thought our guys were feeling that ... not understanding that you've got to show up and play."

If the Razorbacks have issues to work out, junior guard Michael Qualls said it's better to do it early in the season.

"It's a learning process," he said.

Portis is averaging 15.5 points and Qualls 15.4 to lead the Razorbacks, but eight players have scored 10 or more points in a game.

"We have so many weapons, we tend to overthink things at times instead of just keep it simple," Qualls said.

Anderson said the Razorbacks have plenty to work on after giving up 95 points to Iowa State and scoring 65 in 45 minutes at Clemson.

"We're less than a month away from conference play," Anderson said, "so it's time for us to polish it up and get our act together."

Sports on 12/12/2014