NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Moses Kingsley is one of two Arkansas Razorbacks with more than 1,000 points, 600 rebounds and 200 blocked shots in his career.
The other -- Oliver Miller -- will be honored at halftime of the Razorbacks' SEC Tournament opener tonight as their SEC legend.
Miller had 1,674 points, 886 rebounds and 345 blocked shots from the 1988-89 through 1991-92 seasons. Kingsley, a 6-10 senior, has 1,140 points, 732 rebounds and 243 blocked shots.
Most of Kingsley's numbers came in the past two seasons when he became a starter after backing up Bobby Portis.
So while Kingsley may not be SEC player of the year after being predicted to win that award in a preseason media vote -- Kentucky freshman guard Malik Monk (media) and South Carolina senior guard Sindarious Thornwell (coaches) split that honor earlier this week -- it's tough to knock his production.
In 31 games this season Kingsley is averaging 12.0 points, 7.8 rebounds and an SEC-leading 2.6 blocked shots after he averaged 15.9 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots last season.
"Even though his numbers are down a little bit, I think if you ask any coach in the SEC, we'd all love to have him on our team because he's that good," Alabama Coach Avery Johnson said. "Fortunately for him, he's had some other guys step up in terms of taking some of the scoring and rebounding load off of him.
"So they're not in the situation where they have to throw the ball to him every possession and lean on him to lead them in scoring every night. He can focus on defense and being that team leader."
Conference coaches voted Kingsley to the All-SEC second team and to the All-Defensive team for the second consecutive season.
"I thought he came in with expectations," University of Arkansas, Fayetteville Coach Mike Anderson said. "I'm sure he had expectations for himself."
When the media voted Kingsley preseason SEC player of the year, Anderson said his message was "that's a report card for what you did last year" and that he had to take his game to a higher level.
"For the most part, I think he did," Anderson said. "He had more help, so his numbers may not be the gaudy ones he had last year, but I really thought he had a very good year.
"He's had a really good year up to this point. He's not done yet. Let's see what takes place from this point on out."
Senior guard Manny Watkins said Kingsley has dealt all season with being the focus of opposing teams' defensive game plans.
"He went from middle of the scouting report for the other team to this year he's the first guy every team is looking at," Watkins said. "Every team is trying to figure out how to stop him. He's got a target on his back.
"But I think he's handled it well. Some games where he didn't have his scoring going, he'd block shots and rebound. He never predicated his game on offense. I think that was huge.
"When you think of preseason player of the year, you think of 25 points a game, stuff like that. But Moses never looked at it that way. Moses looked at it as, 'What can I do in this particular game to help my team win?' "
Kingsley has helped put Arkansas (23-8, 12-6 SEC) in position to play in the NCAA Tournament after the Razorbacks finished 16-16 last season.
"Last year we didn't have the consistency we wanted, but we knew what we could do even though we weren't having a really good season," Kingsley said. "I feel like that prepared us for this season."
Kingsley averaged 3.6 points and 2.5 rebounds as a sophomore.
"Last year he kind of took the SEC by storm," Arkansas junior forward Trey Thompson said. "I think it was just like, 'Whoa, who is this guy?'
"This year, guys knew what he was capable of doing, so they really had to figure out a way to stop him."
Kingsley has become more involved in the offense over the past six games, averaging 13.3 points and scoring 14 or more four times. The stretch started at South Carolina when he had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. The next game against Ole Miss he had 14 points, 13 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. He had 17 points at Florida and 15 against Georgia.
"Moses was preseason conference player of the year, and that's a hard thing to end up carrying throughout the whole year and winning that award," Ole Miss assistant Bill Armstrong said. "But that doesn't mean he didn't have a great season. He did.
"I think Moses is all about winning and he's probably given up a lot as far as his numbers in order to do that. He's probably the best defensive player in our league protecting the rim for those guys."
Anderson said Kingsley's defensive skills are evident all over the court. He has 85 career steals.
"He can come out on the floor and guard as well as protect the rim," Anderson said. "He's instinctive in terms of his timing and has the determination of not giving up anything easy."
The Razorbacks added six new players, including four of their top eight scorers with guards Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon and forwards Dustin Thomas and Arlando Cook.
"I think he has gotten more comfortable with this group," Anderson said of Kingsley's surge on offense. "I think we had a lot of moving parts. Now the parts are moving in the right direction.
"Our guys are doing a good job getting the ball to him, getting him involved early."
Sports on 03/10/2017