FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Razorbacks guards Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford came in together as junior-college transfers last year, and they hit the 1,000-point mark together in Tuesday's 91-82 victory against Auburn.
Macon hit the milestone first by hitting a three-pointer from the right wing with 17:45 remaining to give the Razorbacks a 61-42 lead. The Little Rock native finished with 16 points to run his Arkansas total to 1,002 points.
"I actually found out this week that I needed 14 points," Macon said. "Big shout out to my teammates."
Barford joined him in the exclusive club a few minutes later, hitting a three-pointer and a 15-foot jumper in rapid succession. The native of Jackson, Tenn., wound up with 20 points to bring his career total to 1,003. He also had a career-high 10 rebounds to post his first double-double.
"The 1,000-point thing just came to us," Barford said. "We were just hitting open shots and making plays."
The duo became the sixth and seventh players in Arkansas history to score 1,000 points in two seasons, joining Martin Terry (1,368 points), Todd Day (1,109), Scotty Thurman (1,079), Bobby Portis (1,047) and Dusty Hannahs (1,047).
Poll beat
The Razorbacks ran their home record to 4-0 against ranked opponents this season, a new program high for home victories against ranked teams.
The Hogs had not beaten three ranked teams at home since the 2007-2008 season.
The previous victories, over No. 14 Minnesota (95-79), No. 19 Tennessee (95-93, OT) and No. 21 Texas A&M (94-75), came by an average margin of 12.3 points.
Triple dunks
The Walton Arena crowd pumped up the volume during a stretch late in the first half in which salty defense helped produce three consecutive dunks.
The first dunk, by Daniel Gafford, came after the 6-11 freshman rebounded a miss by Anton Beard and stuffed it through.
On the other end, Arlando Cook picked off a stray dribble by Malik Dunbar. On the break, Daryl Macon was confronted by a defender as he entered the lane, spotted Gafford streaking in and fed him for another one-handed dunk.
Moments later, Gafford swatted a shot from Mustapha Heron, which Beard corralled and fired down floor to C.J. Jones, who passed ahead to Macon for a two-handed flush.
Dunk mania
Arkansas made 12 consecutive field goals, six of them dunks, in a stretch of 8:28 spanning the two halves.
Daniel Gafford had five of the dunks, including on the Hogs' first two possessions of the second half to give him five in the game before he finished with a season-high seven.
"He tries to dunk everything," Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford said. "It's crazy how athletic he is."
Gafford's final dunk came on a no-look pass from Daryl Macon at the end of a break.
"I was actually going to try to lay the ball up," Macon said. "I seen two guys blocking me, and my instincts said 'Throw it do Dan.' He was right there."
The Razorbacks totaled eight dunks.
Twin double-doubles
Senior Jaylen Barford and freshman Daniel Gafford both posted double-doubles for the Razorbacks. Gafford had a team-high 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Barford scored 20 points and posted a career-high 10 rebounds.
This marked the first tandem double-doubles for the Razorbacks since 1991, when Todd Day and Oliver Miller accomplished the feat.
Swat city
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville forward Daniel Gafford tied his career high with seven blocked shots. The 6-11 freshman from El Dorado had five blocks in the first half and two in the second. Gafford also had seven blocks in the Hogs' 72-54 victory over Vanderbilt.
Half a hundred
The Razorbacks led 52-42 at halftime in a fast-paced game in which Arkansas made 7 of 10 three-pointers and Auburn went 17 of 19 from the free-throw line.
Arkansas scored 50 points in a first half for the first time since leading Ole Miss 50-38 at the break at Walton Arena on Jan. 20. The Razorbacks have scored 50 or more points in a half 11 times this season, including 52 in both parts of a 104-69 victory over Oral Roberts on Dec. 19.
Free style
Auburn, the best free-throw shooting team in the SEC, made 31 of 34 free throws for a 91.2 percent rate.
Jared Harper led the way with 11-of-11 shooting, while Bryce Brown (4 of 4) was also perfect. Horace Spencer, Chuma Okeke and Davion Mitchell all went 2 for 2.
Arkansas made 19 of 30 free throws (63.3 percent), with team leader Daryl Macon going 0 for 2.
Openers
Coach Mike Anderson started the all-senior group of guards Jaylen Barford, Anton Beard and Daryl Macon, and forwards Dustin Thomas and Trey Thompson on senior night. Beard and Barford have started all 30 games, Macon made his 25th start, Thomas made his 16th and Thompson his ninth, which was his first since Dec. 5 against Colorado State.
Senior Arlando Cook was the sixth man, coming in for Thomas at the 19:29 mark.
Sports on 02/28/2018