FAYETTEVILLE - Moses Kingsley was questionable for Wednesday night’s game against South Carolina at Walton Arena, but he ended up providing some answers for the Razorbacks in the second half.
Kingsley, 6-10, 230 pounds, was in doubt after suffering a deep hip bruise Jan. 28 in a loss at Missouri that forced him to miss Saturday’s victory over LSU entirely.
He showed back up at just the right time Wednesday in the Razorbacks’ 71-64 victory over South Carolina.
Arkansas was mired in a second-half stretch during which it couldn’t buy a basket, but the long-armed freshman came in and scored twice on put backs while also grabbing five rebounds in six minutes off the bench.
It was just what the Razorbacks needed.
“I thought Moses’ stick backs were big and his tips on the offensive glass, coming off that injury,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. “Even though he was a little gimpy, I thought he had an impact on the game.”
Kingsley reported Thursday ready to practice after playing 11 minutes Wednesday night, and Anderson has big plans for him in today’s game at Mississippi State.
“When he comes out there his presence is very, very noticed by opponents,” Anderson said. “He takes up a lot of space, and he absorbed some of that physical contact. I see him practicing today and as we move forward probably playing a lot more.”
Bobby Portis, the 6-10 freshman starter, and Kingsley were paired together during the second half of Wednesday’s game. Their height could create mismatches today against a smaller Mississippi State team.
Of course, Mississippi State might capitalize on quickness against the bigger Razorbacks, but Anderson said Kingsley and Portis are pretty agile.
“They guard guards in practice,” Anderson said. “He and Bobby both can move their feet. It won’t be for the whole game, but they can guard those guys.”
UA MOURNS GABEL, FORD
Harold Horton, the retired Razorback Foundation president and administrator (1990-2012) and Razorbacks football assistant coach (1968-80), knew J.W. Gabel and Bob Ford well and said all of the Razorbacks family who knew them deeply mourn their recent passings.
Gabel, 92, was an integral booster in time, thought and money of all things Razorback, Horton said. Along with Jim Lindsey, a star from Arkansas’ 1964 national championship team football team and later a member of the UA Board of Trustees, Gabel was the co-founder of the Lindsey and Associates realty firm.
Ford, a 2012 inductee into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, was an attorney in his native Wynne for more than 40 years.
He was a football starting center at Memphis State (now the University of Memphis), coached from 1958-69 and then was a 20-year part-time Dallas Cowboys scout.
Ford coached first for Bear Bryant at Alabama as a graduate assistant in 1958 and coached full time from 1959-66 at Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Mississippi State before starting law school at Arkansas.
Arkansas Coach Frank Broyles wasted no time in 1967 employing him as freshman coach and scout which allowed Ford, married and with three children, to work his way through law school.
Horton and Ford served together on Broyles’ 10-1 and 9-2 staffs in 1968 and 1969.
“He was very knowledgeable,” Horton said. “Coach Broyles relied on his scouting reports.”
Sports, Pages 20 on 02/22/2014