FAYETTEVILLE -- Even as they made threes in sprees against Mississippi State back on Jan. 9, Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson warned his Razorbacks that shooting comes and goes but defense and taking care of the ball better be their constant.
His words proved gloomily prophetic. If there's no defense when the shots don't fall, you lose big as the Razorbacks did in SEC games last week at Mississippi State and at Ole Miss.
Arkansas hit 8 of 13 first-half threes on Jan. 9 at Walton Arena, but the Razorbacks, plagued by turnovers and some defensive lapses, led only 36-32 at halftime.
Afterward, senior guard Anthlon Bell talked about Anderson's halftime address.
"He got on us big," Bell said.
The Razorbacks won 82-68, and ended up making 16 of 24 three-pointers.
Postgame Anderson still preached defense.
The Hogs last week learned the consequences of not practicing what was preached back on Jan. 9.
Their shots did not fall (16 of 72 at Starkville and 18 of 57 at Oxford), and the Razorbacks defensively fell apart in the 78-46 debacle at Mississippi State and the second half of the 76-60 loss at Ole Miss.
"The thing I have really stressed to our team is our defense," Anderson said. "It's got to be the difference maker."
Good defense helps create the fast tempo Anderson says his Hogs thrive upon.
"We've always been a team that defensively causes havoc, deflections, speeding people up," Anderson said. "Not necessarily stealing the basketball, but making the game chaotic. I don't think we've really done that. We've kind of backed up a little bit and I think it's been reflected in the (lack of) scoring and aggressiveness."
Obviously with so much riding on righting the ship tonight against Auburn, Anderson can't afford to look ahead to Saturday's SEC game against Missouri at Walton Arena.
Except for one aspect: the honoring of retired Arkansas Coach Eddie Sutton with a banner bearing his name at Walton.
Anderson was a young graduate assistant in 1985 when he accompanied Nolan Richardson to Arkansas after Sutton left for Kentucky.
Richardson was attracted to Arkansas by "the monster," as he called it, that Eddie built in 11 years at Barnhill Arena and Nolan nurtured on to Walton Arena and a national championship.
"When you think about basketball at the University of Arkansas, if Eddie Sutton didn't do what he did, we wouldn't be here right now," Anderson said. "You think of the Triplets (Razorbacks legends Sidney Moncrief, Ron Brewer and Marvin Delph) and all the guys he brought through here and the tremendous things he did. A tremendous coach who brought a great tradition. It's a great honor for a great man."
Sports on 02/17/2016