PORTLAND, Ore. — Jaylen Barford paused before standing up and stepping down from the Moda Center’s media-room podium following Arkansas’ impressive 102-67 win over Connecticut in the Phil Knight Invitational on Sunday.
The Razorback senior guard had a message he wanted to deliver.
“Anybody know Dame Lillard in here?” he asked. “Tell him to call me or tweet me, I love him.”
Barford was referencing Portland Trailblazers star Damian Lillard, a player he said he was aiming to shoot like earlier in the season. Lillard obliged:
S/o that boy @Jbarford1 showin love doe ✊🏽 ... good luck bra https://t.co/d0rfWZGDTz
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) November 27, 2017
Barford played like Lillard in the Blazers’ arena Sunday, pouring in a team-high 24 points on 9 of 15, hitting a career-high four 3-pointers on just five attempts.
“When I say I like Dame, he look at me crazy,” fellow senior guard Daryl Macon said jokingly, with a sarcastic frown after Barford’s request for a shoutout from the star point guard.
The post-game mood was cheerful after the Razorbacks (5-1) trounced UConn, leading by as much as 42 down the stretch to earn a third-place showing in the tournament's Victory Bracket and finish the weekend 2-1, sandwiching a loss to No. 9 North Carolina with impressive wins over Oklahoma and UConn (4-2).
Arkansas played nearly perfect Sunday in the finale, shooting 60 percent from the floor and hitting 11 of 19 3-pointers.
UConn junior guard Jalen Adams scored a game-high 25 points and junior wing Terry Lannier had 18, but the rest of the team went just 6 of 26 from the floor. In all, the Razorbacks held UConn to 37.7 percent shooting.
The Hogs broke the game open with a 19-0 run to turn a double-digit lead into a 72-41 advantage and remove any doubt about the outcome of the game.
“You can’t let your shots on the offensive end dictate your defensive end,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “We’ve got to play with pride. … Today, they got on the fast break and pretty much did what they wanted to do in transition.”
Defense turned into offense for Arkansas as it got stops and pushed the pace. The Razorbacks officially outscored UConn 13-3 in fast-break points, but had numerous other instances where they got open looks out of early offense as a result of pushing the pace after securing defensive rebounds.
“I thought we had fun playing defense and that’s what I stressed with our guys, coming out defensively and setting the tone,” Anderson said. “It’s amazing how you do that and what takes place on offense. If your defense is really, really solid and good and you’re making shots, a lot of good things take place.”
Barford wasn’t alone as a standout for Arkansas.
Sophomore guard C.J. Jones built on a 12-point showing against North Carolina by scoring a career-high 19 points on just eight shots. Macon played through an ankle injury suffered in the UNC loss and scored 16 points in 26 minutes. Freshman center Daniel Gafford had nine points, five rebounds and three explosive dunks, bringing his season total to 15, before fouling out in 14 minutes.
But Barford was the lead dog, scoring 16 in the first half as Arkansas built the lead and knocking down a pair of 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half to keep the Huskies at bay.
“He’s an excellent player,” Ollie said. “He can shoot it. He can go off the dribble. He’s definitely a very good basketball player. They ran in transition and all found him in open spots. They was all making every shot and they got to the free-throw line, too.”
Arkansas led by as much as 20 in the first half thanks to hot shooting and a strong defensive effort. In falling behind 29-11 more than midway through the half, UConn had more turnovers (five) than made field goals (four).
“We always talk about seeing the ball and our man,” Anderson said. “I thought our guys were really in a nice rhythm, in touch with one another. They were talking, they were moving, they were giving multiple efforts.”
The Huskies trimmed the lead to 45-31 at the break and cut it to within 10 in the first two minutes of the second half, but the 19-0 run erased any doubt about who the victor would be and whether it would be a happy plane ride back to Fayetteville.
“It would’ve been nice to go 3-0, but I think it was the next best thing,” Anderson said. “Not only just the 2-1 but how we were playing. I think that’s the big thing.”