FAYETTEVILLE — FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Razorbacks freshman Daniel Gafford lit the Walton Arena crowd with end to end action late in Saturday's 72-54 victory over Vanderbilt that perfectly illustrated why he entered major college basketball with such great fanfare and expectations.
On the defensive end, the 6-11 Gafford packed a shot from Vanderbilt's Peyton Willis, the former Fayetteville High standout.
C.J. Jones collected the rebound for Arkansas and found Darious Hall with an outlet pass near mid court. Hall turned and spotted Gafford sprinting downcourt unguarded, hit him in stride on the break and Gafford electrified the crowd with a vicious windmill dunk with 2:07 to play.
Fans quickly began chanting, "We want more! We want more!"
At the first stoppage of play after Gafford's coast-to-coast work, senior forward Trey Thompson gave the 6-11 Gafford a playful shove to recognize the effort.
"I just went up and in my mind, I thought the guy behind me was going to jump at me, so I just was going to dunk it," Gafford said. "But then I saw a wide open lane so my eyes got big."
Teammate Daryl Macon laughed at Gafford's response, saying, "You could see it from half-court that he was going to try something."
Macon later added that the blocked shot and windmill dunk sequence should make SportsCenter's top 10 plays.
Gafford finished with 16 points, 9 rebounds and a season-high 7 blocked shots, tied for 10th in a single game for the Razorbacks.
"He was everywhere. He was active," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "The beauty of it is he only played 24 minutes tonight. That tells you how efficient he was. His energy, it's contagious on our basketball team."
Gafford also had two steals and Arkansas outscored Vanderbilt by 17 points with him on the floor.
"He was ranked the 37th best player in the country coming in for a reason, and he showed it tonight," Vanderbilt Coach Bryce Drew said. "He impacted the game on both ends."
20 times 7
Daryl Macon's streak of 20-point games looked to be in jeopardy late in the first half Saturday.
Macon had two points with less than four minutes remaining in the first half. However, the senior, who was 2 of 8 shooting in the half, hit a layup and made a pair of free throws before intermission.
The Little Rock native erupted after halftime along with his team and finished with 21 points on 7 of 17 shooting, including 4 of 6 from three-point range.
"It's never on my mind," Macon said when asked about the streak. "It could end any night. I'm not the guy who is just going to go and chase points."
Macon extended his streak of 20-point games to seven, the longest for a Razorback in 24 years. Corliss Williamson scored 20 or more points in eight consecutive games during the 1993-94 season.
Fastest 10
Vanderbilt guard Maxwell Evans figured he'd conduct a one-man fast break, as he dribbled a missed free throw from Daniel Gafford hurriedly down the floor and through the left side of the lane for a layup try. The shot came right back as Gafford made a block at the rim and Dustin Thomas rebounded for the Hogs.
Thomas rifled an outlet pass to Jaylen Barford, who whipped a high-speed, underhand pass to Daryl Macon, who was sprinting toward the rim. The entire sequence, from Gafford's missed free throw to Macon being fouled by Larry Austin, took 10 seconds. Macon hit the pair of free throws for a 28-21 Arkansas lead, but Barford unluckily got no assist for his wicked pass.
Hot Drew
Vanderbilt Coach Bryce Drew got hot under the collar early in the second half and let the officiating crew know how he felt.
Drew's ire was raised after a no-call on a Daniel Gafford blocked shot against Ejike Obinna at the rim when it appeared Gafford made contact with the body. As Arkansas bolted the other way with the ball, Drew rapidly trailed official Brian Shey, ripping his jacket off in the process, then uttering a magic word which brought a technical foul call by Shey.
Daryl Macon hit 1 of 2 free throws on the technical for a 33-24 Hogs lead at the 17:13 mark.
Five for five
Arkansas committed turnovers on each of its first five possessions as Vanderbilt built a 4-0 lead. Daniel Gafford sandwiched two turnovers around a pair from Arlando Cook and then Jaylen Barford had a bad pass on to the wing that went out of bounds to cap the lackluster stretch, after which aggravated fans unleashed some boos. The Hogs had eight turnovers in the first eight minutes and 10 at halftime. Cook did not return.
Weather worry
Arkansas had a second-consecutive home game in which winter weather impacted crowd size at Walton Arena.
Attendance was estimated at 11,524 for Saturday's game, lowest during SEC play for the Razorbacks.
A crowd of 14,956 attended Tuesday's 81-65 victory over South Carolina after the Razorbacks had drawn 18,000-plus for four of their previous five home games.
First five
Arlando Cook joined the starting unit for the second time this year and the first since the Hogs' 80-66 loss at Texas A&M on Jan. 30. Cook committed two turnovers in the first 90 seconds and was subbed out at the 17:54 mark.
Jaylen Barford and Anton Beard have started all 25 games, while Daryl Macon made his 19th start and third in a row, and Daniel Gafford made his 17th start, all in a row.
Gabe Osabouhien was the first off the bench for the second straight game.
Rare split
Arkansas and Vanderbilt traded road victories last season, a rarity since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992.
Arkansas won 71-70 at Memorial Arena in Nashville, Tenn., on Jan. 24 behind 17 points from Dusty Hannahs and 15 points from Jaylen Barford.
The Commodores won 72-59 at Walton Arena two weeks later on Feb. 7, as five players scored in double figures. Vanderbilt shot 56 percent (14 of 25) in the first half and 25-4 before taking a 39-18 edge at intermission.
Arkansas won the rubber match 76-62 at the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
The Razorbacks have split a two-game series with road victories four times in the SEC, against Alabama in 1995 and '96, and against Ole Miss in 2010.
Down, under
The loss by Vanderbilt assured the Commodores of a losing regular season record, the first such clinching for an SEC team this year. Vanderbilt has not posted a losing record since the 2013-14 team under Kevin Stallings finished 15-16.
Saturday splash
The Razorbacks improved to 41-5 record in Saturday games at Walton Arena under Mike Anderson.
Arkansas is 12-0 in Saturday home games this season.
Tip ins
Arkansas forward Adrio Bailey had the flu and did not dress out.
The Commodores did not put a player in double figures. Four Vanderbilt players scored eight points each.
Fans booed as the officials stopped the game for about three minutes with 19:37 left on the first half clock. The stoppage was to correct a clock error, which wound up changing the clock to 19:22.
Vanderbilt had a streak of 35 consecutive made free throws end midway through the second half when Jeff Roberson misfired with 11:55 remaining. The Commodores made their final five free throws against Auburn last Saturday, went 16 for 16 in a victory over Georgia and hit 14 in a row against the Hogs.
Freshman Gabe Osabuohien hit a free throw at the 16:00 mark for his first point since scoring two in the Hogs' 88-63 victory over Troy on Dec. 16.
Vanderbilt had scored exactly 81 points in each of its last four games, hitting 51.8 percent of its shots and 44.1 percent of its three pointers during wins over TCU and Georgia and losses to Kentucky and Auburn.