FAYETTEVILLE — North Florida head coach Matthew Driscoll made a name for himself with some memorable quotes in the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
His best moments were describing Robert Morris, his team’s opponent in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.
"Between the black lines, it's about players being players," he said. "Ballers make plays; dudes are dudes. That's the way life works."
After Arkansas dispatched North Florida 91-76 on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena, he was certain that he has one dude of his own, but that the Razorbacks had more.
His dude was senior guard Dallas Moore, who had a game-high 34 points after scoring 31 against Florida and 30 against Syracuse.
“I don’t remember the last time a dude has got 30 three times in a row against power 5 teams,” Driscoll said. “Not at a mid-major, I’m talking about even from a power 5 conference. I don’t know. You guys have to tell me, ‘Coach, your forgot about,’ I mean tell me who has got 30 three games in a row.
“I am so proud of him. He doesn’t play with a chip on his shoulder. He plays with confidence and that’s why he is a pro and that’s why the pros love him. We just have got to continue to get better with those young guys and we will.”
Jaylen Barford’s 3-pointer gave Arkansas the lead for good at 65-63 with 12:05 left, Barford then converted off a steal and fellow junior college transfer Daryl Macon soon added back-to-back 3 pointers in what turned into an 11-0 run.
“I told our guys when you watch the Houston game, when you watch the IPFW (Fort Wayne) game, the Mount St. Mary’s game - it’s a tie game and then all of a sudden, you are down 10,” Driscoll said.
“It’s the craziest thing I have ever seen in my life. And it happened to us tonight.”
Moore echoed that sentiment.
“Against these Power 5 teams like Arkansas, a credit to them them they got dudes in the right spots at the right time and they execute well down the stretch and that’s what hurt us,” Moore said.
Dusty Hannahs led the way for Arkansas with 17 points while Barford had 14, Macon 13, Moses Kingsley had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Dustin Thomas eight points and eight rebounds.
“Dusty is one of the strangest guys in America,” Driscoll said. “He plays about 22 minutes a game, 23 minutes a game. I told him, man you would be playing 40 a game for us just so you know. You would be like this joker over here (Moore).
“But he don’t care. He don’t care if he starts or comes off the bench. He don’t care. He just comes out and does what a good player does. Does what he suppose to do - makes shot, passes the ball, plays great defense, great team guy and he is your leading scorer. He is a special talent, a special kid and coach has done a great job in recruiting this state."
Moore played 37 minutes and had 'only' 12 second-half points after erupting for 22 in the first half of a game that was tied 44-44 at intermission.
“I don’t think that I wore down,” Moore said. “I am used to playing a lot of minutes like Coach just said. “I have got to do better at preparation. I guess I didn’t drink enough Gatorade or water throughout the day and it is cold here and I am not used to that and we are not used to that.
“That kind of hurt me down the stretch and I think that when I went up, I went up a couple of times and I felt something in my calf, but I just kept on playing. After awhile when I went up on Kingsley, I had to jump really guard because he’s POV was great, I felt it and Coach took me out and decided to rest me the rest of the game.”
Kingsley was a big key for Arkansas in the second half.
“Give Kingsley a lot of credit for developing his game,” Driscoll said. “I hope he doesn’t shoot too many jump shots because he is a beast inside and he is great at it. Obviously he was worked on his jump shot a lot and he has done a great job of finding the sweet spot with that jump shot.”
North Florida has to play a lot of road games to start the season to help finance its athletic department.
“This is probably our 50th game in my eight years of playing teams like this,” Driscoll said. “These type of games where you are making large sums of money for your athletic department and after awhile it wears on you.
“We prepare every game to win every game and we feel when we walk on the floor every game that we can win the game. It doesn’t matter whether we are playing Michigan State or Indiana or when we beat Purdue, beat Illinois, gave it away at Northwestern, should have beat LSU. This is how we prepare in this program and that is why we are back-to-back champions for the first time in six years, that is why we are able to be successful when it gets to our league.
North Florida (3-8) is now 0-4 against SEC teams this season with losses at Auburn (83-66) at LSU (78-70), Florida (112-60) and Arkansas.
“I’m just trying to think back … LSU has got some good pieces,” Driscoll said. “Florida obviously is really talented. Auburn is way better than you think, and they shoot the ball better this year. They're just a little bit small. But they shoot the ball better than you think.”