FAYETTEVILLE — With his team leading 19-6 on Saturday with 11:33 left in the opening half and not having lost in over a month, Texas State head coach Danny Kaspar was just fine playing the role of The Grinch Who Stole Arkansas’ Christmas.
At the same time, Razorback head coach Mike Anderson was turning into Scrooge right before his players' eyes and those of former Razorback and current Dallas Maverick Daryl Macon, who was on hand for the game.
Losing a third straight home game after dropping just two in Anderson’s previous 69 games against non-conference foes might have canceled the at-home Holidays for the Hogs.
Instead, Razorbacks sophomore Mason Jones turned back-to-back steals into a pair of old-fashioned 3-point plays and Arkansas would score the game's next 17 points.
Arkansas (8-3) would go on to a 28-8 run to end the half and would eventually down Texas State 73-70 before a crowd of just over 7,000.
While not quite a Christmas or Festivus miracle, it certainly was better than the alternative for Anderson, whose team opens SEC play on Jan. 5 at Texas A&M.
"It was a quick turnaround for our guys and another opportunity to play against another team that had nothing to lose and everything to gain," Anderson said. "So it says a lot about our guys rallying. It wasn’t a thing of beauty. They got back in the win column and have a chance to have a happy Christmas and then come back and we really go to work because we have a window of almost a week and a half, two weeks or whatever it is, to learn from all the games we played and just really get better, get better on execution."
Kaspar believes his team woke up Arkansas and it delivered the 17-0 haymaker to take back control of the game.
“We started off strong, but then Arkansas picked it up,” Kaspar said. “They kind of punched us and knocked us down and we were slow to get up. ... Other than that stretch right there, I thought we played pretty good.
“They did a good job on our main scorers. Our top three scorers went a combined 13-of-41 and that’s just not going to cut it. We have to have our main people shoot better than that.”
Anderson was pleased with how his team responded after dropping home games to Western Kentucky and Georgia Tech sandwiched around a win over UTSA in North Little Rock.
“I thought some of our guys had checked out in that first part of the game when we’re down 19-6,” Anderson said. “But that’s the first half. I am concerned about the slow start, but we did turn it around and our defense was really good. That enabled us to get back in the game.”
Arkansas led Texas State 34-27 at halftime and pushed that to a 63-53 lead with 3:38 left in the game.
The Razorbacks hit 28-of-40 free throws (70 percent) and went 20-of-26 after intermission to put the game away even as the Bobcats hit some shots late to tighten the score, including a lay-up near the buzzer.
“The thing I like about it is we shot nine free throws the last game,” Anderson said. “We shoot 40 tonight. Why such a big difference? I think we played inside-out. We started inside and kept attacking and attacking and got to the free throw line and we made shots.”
Arkansas shot 52 percent from the field in the first half and 44.7 percent overall during the game while Texas State shot 50 percent in the second half, but only 41 percent overall and was just 8-of-21 from the free throw line.
Texas State’s only other loss this season came at Drake on Nov. 17 and the veteran Bobcats are off to their best start since a 23-1 run to open the 1952-53 season.
Jones led Arkansas with 20 points while Daniel Gafford added 19 points and 10 rebounds and Jalen Harris and Isaiah Joe chipped in 10 points each.
Joe was only 1-of-6 shooting on the day, but did hit a 3-pointer to give Arkansas the 10-point lead and hit 7-of-8 free throws, making 5-of-6 late to put the game away.
“I thought our defense was reasonably good against a team in a pretty hostile environment like this place is,” Kaspar said. “We didn’t have an answer for Daniel Gafford, but I am not sure a lot of people are. I thought Mason Jones was the player of the game and was very efficient. He hurt us even more than Gafford.”
Jones, who weighed 265 pounds as a senior in high school and is down to 198 now, was seen but not recruited by Kaspar out of Desoto, Texas, High School, Triple AAA Academy or Connors State.
Kaspar previously coached at Stephen F. Austin and is in his second year at Texas State.
“He was a Dallas kid and I know him, but he was not very highly sought out in high school,” Kaspar said. “He has really turned himself into a nice player. We didn’t (recruit) him, but we should have.
“ … If my understanding is right, he was overweight. Desoto is such a good program that you could be a really good player and still only average 10 points per game.”
Jones, who seemed to take Kaspar not recruiting him as motivation, was quick to speak to Kaspar after the game.
“He saw me at a game my senior year in high school, but he didn’t recruit me,” Jones said. “I was big. I was a big fella, so I can’t blame him for that.
“I told him after the game I knew him and he knew me… I had a good game and stuff. … He tried to recruit me in JUCO, but I guess he didn’t want to recruit me still. That’s on him. End of story.”
Arkansas will now take off a few days for Christmas and report back to campus on Dec. 26 ahead of a Dec. 28 game against Austin Peay.
“I have been known to be a scrooge over the years," Anderson said. "They get maybe one or two days, but they get a chance to go home and be back here at 2 p.m. on the 26th. So they get to go home today.
“It has been a grind for some of these guys. You think about these guys, these guys are 18-19 and just coming out of high school. Just in the last week, they have had three games. You are talking about studying, this is new territory for these guys.
“Take a guy like Isaiah. It is time to get his body some rest. J-5, Jalen Harris, he sat out a whole year and it is a new way of playing. So they get a chance, and Daniel, to get some rest and then come back and recharge and hopefully be ready to get after it against Austin Peay.”