Loss to Houston not hurting UA

Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford drives during the second half of a win over Minnesota Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017, in Bud Walton Arena.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks, who beat No. 14 Minnesota 95-79 on Saturday night in Walton Arena, didn't look much like the basketball team that a week earlier absorbed a 91-65 pounding at Houston.

"Throw that Houston game out," Minnesota Coach Richard Pitino said. "That was bizarre."

The Houston loss hasn't hurt the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville much in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index, a formula used to rank teams based on their performance and strength of schedule.

Arkansas (7-2) is No. 9 nationally in the NCAA's RPI released Monday.

Houston (8-1) won its seventh consecutive game with a 77-58 victory at Saint Louis on Saturday night to help boost the Razorbacks' resume nationally.

Arkansas' other loss is to defending national champion North Carolina (9-1) in Portland, Ore. The Tar Heels are ranked No. 7 in this week's Associated Press poll.

In addition to beating Minnesota (8-3), the Razorbacks had noteworthy victories over Oklahoma (7-1) and Connecticut (7-3) in Portland.

The Golden Gophers (8-3) fell out of the AP poll after losing at Nebraska and Arkansas, but beating Minnesota should be a victory that holds up well for the Razorbacks as the season goes on. The Gophers still got votes in the AP poll, as did Arkansas.

"Minnesota is a very, very good basketball team," Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. "They just caught us on a night where our guys who start out played well, and the guys who came off the bench really, really played well."

Arkansas outscored Minnesota 29-13 in bench points, and that was with 6-11 freshman Daniel Gafford making his first start for the Razorbacks.

Gafford, named SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday, had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 blocked shots in 21 minutes against the Gophers.

"I didn't know he was starting until we went into the locker room the last time [before tipoff]," said senior guard Jaylen Barford, who led Arkansas with 22 points. "I was looking at the board and the matchups and I saw his name.

"It kind of surprised me, but I was glad he was in the lineup. He did what he was supposed to do and kept the energy up and got a lot of blocked shots."

Gafford made his first start with an announced crowd of 17,583 at the game against a Minnesota front line featuring 6-11 fifth-year senior Reggie Lynch, who came into the game averaging 11.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and a national-leading 4.5 blocked shots.

"It was just so much stuff going on in my head that I just went out there and did my thing," Gafford said.

Lynch had two fouls by the 16:24 mark of the first half, played just four minutes in the half and 14 in the game.

Gafford, who has fouled out three times this season, picked up a third foul with 18:53 left in the game and went to the bench. The Razorbacks pushed their lead from 54-48 to 65-54 before he returned at the 11:55 mark.

"I think it was just the maturity level and the experience of the team," Barford said of extending the lead with Gafford out of the game. "We stayed within ourselves and just kept moving the ball, making plays for each other and got stops."

The Razorbacks were ahead by as many as 19 points in the final minutes.

"I think we lost to a really good team, and you give them credit," Pitino said. "You're going to get their best when you're in their building.

"I think they played well because they've got a really good coach and they've got really talented players."

Arkansas doesn't have any games this week because of final exams. The Razorbacks' next game is against Troy (5-5) on Saturday night at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

"I actually get to see my mama come and watch me play," Gafford said of playing close to home. "I'm pretty excited to see her again because it's been awhile."

This week is the longest stretch of the season so far that the Razorbacks have gone without playing a game. They'll go eight days between games over Christmas between playing Oral Roberts on Dec. 19 and California-Bakersfield on Dec. 27.

"We're in a nice little rhythm," Anderson said. "We've been game after game after game.

"So I've got to be creative because the finals schedule will be different. We'll practice at some weird times probably to have all the guys.

"But the most important thing we have right now are their studies. We've got some guys that are close to graduating, and we want to make sure they put all their efforts in trying get to that done."

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Sports on 12/12/2017