FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas basketball fans in central Arkansas will get a chance to see the Razorbacks’ three 2017 signees on the same floor Saturday at Little Rock Mills.
El Dorado’s Daniel Gafford (6-11, 223 pounds) and Little Rock Mills’ Darious Hall (6-7, 210) will lead one team, while fellow future Razorback Khalil Garland (6-6, 190) will lead the other in the second annual Central Arkansas High School Senior Showcase.
The event will start with a girls game at 5 p.m. with the boys slated to play around 6:30 p.m.
“We are just coming out here and having fun right now because we know next year it is going to be serious,” Hall said.
Hall, Garland and Gafford are all set to report to Fayetteville in late May to begin summer school classes and workouts with their new Razorback teammates.
“All of my new teammates say it is going to be Hell,” Hall said. “They say that (strength and conditioning coach Adam Pettway) is going to work us out to get us physically ready for the SEC.”
Hall had 20 points and Gafford 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks while being named the MVP in Arkansas’ 105-81 win over Tennessee last Saturday in the Mike Conley All-Star Challenge in Memphis.
Garland - who will be joined on his team by Little Rock Parkview teammate Javon Franklin - did not play in Memphis as he attended the Little Rock Central prom instead.
“We worked that screen and roll,” Hall said. “If you lob it to the rim, he (Gafford) is going to go get it. We rebounded and outleted it up the floor just like the Fastest 40.”
It’s been a great year for Hall, who capped his season by being named MVP after Mills downed Parkview in the Class 5A state title game.
“It was great to be a senior and to help a school and coach that had never won a state title to it,” Hall said. “It was a true blessing.”