What we learned from Arkansas' 77-71 win over Seton Hall

Arkansas' Duston Thomas brings down a rebound in front of Seton Hall's Ismael Sanogo Friday Mar. 17, 2017 during the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. Arkansas won 77-71 and will advance to the second round, playing Sunday at the same location. Writer:

That Dustin Thomas was the (most surprising) Player of the Game

— When Arkansas was struggling in the second half of its game with Seton Hall early in the second half, an unlikely hero stepped forward.

That was junior forward Dustin Thomas, who tied his career high with 13 points and had 5 rebounds while playing a career-high 31 minutes.

Thomas made 6-of-9 field goal attempts and also had two assists, a block, a steal and a turnover.

“That was probably start to finish Dustin Thomas’ best game as a Razorback,” Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson said. It was needed because their defensive scheme was to stack, pack in there and guard Moses and leave that forward open.

“And so he knocked down some shots. I thought he was active defensively. On switches, he was guarding a guard. He looked like he was real confident and that’s the most minutes he had played all year.”

Kingsley was happy to see his front-court partner cashing in.

“It was big,” Kingsley said. “It was huge. He knocked down a few wide-open shots which we needed because the bigs weren’t coming out to guard him. We needed him to stretch there floor and make good baskets.”

That when Dusty Hannahs, Jaylen Barford and Moses Kingsley all hit their first shots of the night that it’s likely to be a win for Arkansas.

All three of those players hit their first shots of the night - Kingsley actually hit his first five - and Arkansas tried playing from in front in the first half instead of behind as has been their calling card much of the season.

Kingsley ended the day 10-of-13, Hannahs 3-of-8 and Barford 8-of-17 as the three combined to score 57 of their team’s 77 points with Thomas chipping in 13 more.

“We’ve been in a lot of those (close) games this year and won them and the guys on last year’s team lost a lot of them,” Hannahs said. “So you live and learn in those situations and it is always good to get off to a great start rather than having to fight back.”

That Angel Delgado, the nation’s leading rebounder, was as good as advertised

Delgado had 12 points and 13 rebounds, which is his average and a total that included eight offensive caroms.

He and Kingsley - who had 23 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks - waged war inside.

“I don’t know what to tell you,” noted Delgado, who had five turnovers. “We just was playing hard and we both battled let’s say.”

That the flagrant foul on Desi Rodriguez with 24 seconds left was replayed and confirmed, but was was still debated long after the game was over.

It seems that many in the national media and certainly those that cover Seton Hall on a regular basis thought the flagrant foul call was a bad one.

Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson noted the ref got it right.

“I thought there was no play on the ball,” Anderson said. “That’s as simple as that. There was no play on the ball. He pushed the guy down. You saw it. I saw it.

“I mean what’s borderline when you say you know what he didn’t make a play on the ball. …So it came at a bad time (for Seton Hall), a good time for us.”

Rodriguez felt it was just a regular foul.

“I think I made a basketball play,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t foul intentionally to hurt anyone. The officials called it another way and that’s that.”

J.D. Collins, the NCAA's national coordinator of men's basketball officiating, said site referees made the correct call on Rodriguez's flagrant foul.

"When a player puts two hands on the back and doesn't make any attempt to play the ball or ... get in front of him, it's an F-1 foul," Collins said.

That you can’t get to the Sweet 16 if you can’t win the opening-round game

Arkansas has now won three straight opening round games in the NCAA Tournaments with victories over Indiana, Wofford and Seton Hall.

The first two of those trips ended in losses in the next round for the Razorbacks (26-9) and they will face a formidable foe in top-seeded North Carolina (28-7) next.

The Razorbacks were last in the Sweet 16 back in 1996 and were in it five times from 1990-96.