NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

Pirates, not Dick Vitale, on radar of Hogs

Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson directs his team in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Kentucky for the championship of the Southeastern Conference tournament Sunday, March 12, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson on Tuesday said his verbal sparring with ESPN commentator Dick Vitale is over and his focus is solely on the Razorbacks' first-round NCAA battle with Seton Hall.

The pace of play, Seton Hall's rebounding prowess and the Pirates' perimeter game are the concerns for Anderson and the No. 8 seed University of Arkansas, Fayetteville in advance of Friday's 12:30 p.m. tipoff at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.

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"They play a style where, they maybe want to be in the 70s, the 60s," Anderson said. "Obviously we want to play more uptempo. So it's a clash of styles."

Anderson had a clash Monday with Vitale, who was critical of Moses Kingsley's flagrant two foul, which earned an ejection late in the Razorbacks' 82-65 loss to Kentucky on Sunday.

Anderson and Vitale both appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show on the SEC Network on Monday, with Anderson defending his player and his team, saying, "For people to attack these kids and talk about our program, that's way out of character. We run a first-class organization, and emotions got out of hand."

Vitale came on later and suggested the actions of Kingsley and Arkansas guard Dusty Hannahs, who set a hard screen and brought his arms up late in the game, could have led to punches being thrown.

Anderson said Tuesday he had talked to Vitale and had moved past the dust-up.

"We're talking about Seton Hall right now," Anderson said. "I said what I said. You can talk about me, but we have some good kids here. They're doing the right things.

"I had a chance to talk to Dick Vitale, and we're on the same page. Everything is good. We turned that page."

Arkansas players said they respected Anderson's defense of the players and the program.

"I loved it. I loved it," junior Daryl Macon said.

"Backing up his players," senior Manny Watkins added.

"I would have backed it up, but that wasn't my position," Macon added. "Coach A has always had our backs since we've been here. That's one thing he's always stressed to us, he's going to have our back and we've got to have each others' back. He showed it. That was big."

The Pirates boast the nation's leading rebounder in Angel Delgado, who averages 13.1 rebounds and 15.3 points per game. Guards Khadeen Carrington (16.9 ppg) and Desi Rodriguez (15.9 ppg) are also top scorers.

"When you've got a mixture of good guards and good bigs, you can win a lot of games, and they did," Watkins said.

Arkansas has been an up-and-down rebounding team this season.

"I think one thing people say about us is we're not a good rebounding team," Macon said. "But over the past few games, we've been getting better, getting our guards rebounding. When you've got your guards rebounding, it kind of helps the bigs stay out of foul trouble."

Said senior Dusty Hannahs: "We've been playing good rebounding teams. You just have to come ready. We know that's their style, kind of typical to a Texas A&M-type team in the case of offensive rebounding.

"We know how those teams are coming to the glass. We just have to execute to box them out."

The Razorbacks have never played an NCAA Tournament game in South Carolina, so the Palmetto State will be the 22nd state in which Arkansas has played in the NCAAs.

Arkansas and Seton Hall could be playing in front of a healthy crowd, despite being among the early tipoffs Friday.

Tickets to the first- and second-round games in Greenville, which include South Regional No. 1 seed North Carolina and East Regional No. 2 seed Duke, were declared a sellout by the NCAA on Tuesday.

Bon Secours Wellness Arena, which seats 15,951, was last an NCAA host site in 2002.

The winner of Arkansas vs. Seton Hall will play the winner of North Carolina vs. Texas Southern on Sunday.

Up next

(8) ARKANSAS VS.

(9) SETON HALL

WHAT NCAA Tournament in the first round of the South Region WHEN 12:30 p.m. Central Friday WHERE Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, S.C. RECORDS Arkansas 25-9; Seton Hall 21-11 SERIES Arkansas leads 1-0 RADIO Razorback Sports Network TELEVISION TNT

Sports on 03/15/2017