FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas senior guards Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford continued their high-scoring ways on Saturday night, but it was Razorback true freshman center Daniel Gafford that created the most excitement.
Gafford (6-11, 233), who has seen his numbers dip since the start of SEC play, flirted with a triple-double in his team’s 72-54 win over Vanderbilt before 11,524 fans at Bud Walton Arena.
He had 16 points, 9 rebounds and a career-high 7 blocks to add to Macon’s 21 points and Barford’s 16 in the win for Arkansas (17-8, 6-6).
“It was good to see,” Razorback head coach Mike Anderson said. “Good to see him just really be active… Early in the game, he was getting some shots inside. He was missing those. I thought in the second half, he went up a lot stronger to finish it.
“But he was everywhere. He was active. I thought he was active on defense. The beauty of it is that he only played 24 minutes. That tells you how efficient he was tonight.”
The win moved Arkansas into a four-way tie for sixth in the SEC along with Kentucky, Mississippi State and Texas A&M was the Commodores' second lowest point total this season behind 42 scored against current No. 2 Virginia.
Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew, whose Commodores (9-16, 3-9) had scored at least 81 points in each of its last four games, we was not surprised by Gafford’s effort.
“Well, he was ranked the 37th best (high school) player in the country coming in for a reason and he showed it tonight,” Drew said. “He impacted the game on both ends. He has great length and he moves really well and shot it well tonight. He's going to be a special player here.”
Gafford’s seven swats came on a night when Vanderbilt went 4-of-26 from the field in the first half and 14-of-55 for the game and a chilly 3-of-26 from 3-point range.
The Commodores missed 16 of their last 17 shots in the first half - including 12 in a row at one point.
“Gafford I thought was a big difference in the game, and not just his scoring and rebounding but his rim protection,” Drew said. “He took away a lot of easy baskets for us.”
Arkansas, which had five turnovers on its first five possessions, needed the boost from Gafford, who came up big in a 19-2 run in the first half that pushed the Razorbacks ahead 28-21 at halftime.
“His energy, it was contagious on our basketball team,” Anderson said. “I always talk about guys going out and playing hard and being efficient with those minutes. I thought tonight, it was in effect with him.
“I mean, seven blocked shots. He hurt a lot of shots on there. He blocked one shot and down on the other end, dunking it.”
Anderson was talking about Gafford’s seventh block, which resulted in him sprinting the other way and throwing down a windmill dunk with 2:07 left that put Arkansas up 70-49.
Gafford was asked when he decided to throw down a windmill dunk.
“I really didn't even know,” Gafford said. “I just went up and in my mind I thought the guy was behind me and was going to jump with me so I was just going to dunk it, but I saw a wide open lane so my eyes just got big.”
Macon, who had 15 of his 21 points in the second half, was not hearing any of that and turned to his younger teammate and chided him for it.
“So you are going to sit here and tell them that you had no intentions of windmilling? You could see it from half court that you were going to try something,” Macon said. “It was not a close game so he was going to try something whether he missed it or not. I don’t know why he just said that.”
Gafford, who was 7-of-12 from the field, 2-of-5 from the free throw line and had 10 points, six rebounds and four blocks in the second half, reminded Anderson of former Razorback Derek Hood on the play.
“Reminds me of a guy we had, Derek Hood could do that,” Anderson said. “He could block a shot and be down there that fast. That tells me that his motor is running and running real high.
“Then of course he’s getting around the basket and finishing shots. He knocked down a little elbow shot to start the second half. So it was good to see him play with a lot of confidence.
The seven blocks Saturday night gave Gafford 51 for the season.
"I have to protect the basket pretty much,” Gafford said. “I had it in my mind that I was going to send out everything that came in. They tell me that before every game - ‘whatever comes in, just throw it out and they will clean up the rest.’”
Gafford is averaging 11 points and 6 rebounds per game this season, but his numbers have dropped to 9.2 points and 5.6 rebounds and 15 blocks in the last 10 games.
Macon, who moved within one game of tying Corliss Williamson’s school record of eight straight 20-point games, bristled when a reporter asked about Gafford having his best game in awhile.
“I am not actually sure what you mean when you say it is his best game in awhile,” Macon said. “Daniel has been playing good every game. It is not about scoring if that is what people think. It is not about scoring. It is not about the dunks.
“He has a big impact. He gets offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, blocked shots, rotates good, hustles, runs the floor. It’s all those things, not just the things that gets you out of your seat. I think he has been playing good the whole time.”
Arkansas will hit the road again on Tuesday to face Ole Miss, who it beat 97-93 in Fayetteville on Jan. 20.
“We should be comfortable going to play them,” Gafford said. “Even thought we got a win here, we just can’t just take it as we beat them here, we are going to beat them again - because you never know when we are on the road. We are going to get everything on the road so it is going to be a tough game.”
Macon echoed those sentiments.
“We have got to bring our hardhats on the road,” Macon said. “We have got to stay together. I think if we go on the road with the defensive mindset first we will come out with a win. Just play Razorback basketball.”