Hogs find success late with Bulldogs

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Razorbacks have played 4 1/2 basketball games in their last four visits to Stegeman Coliseum.

The additional half represents the 20 combined extra minutes the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville had to go in three of those four games on Georgia's home court.

The Razorbacks didn't play an overtime game in any of their first 11 visits to Georgia from 1992 through 2012.

Then overtime kicked in.

The Bulldogs beat the Razorbacks 66-61 in overtime on Jan. 18, 2014, at Stegeman Coliseum.

After Arkansas won 79-75 at Georgia in 2015 in regulation, the teams went overtime again with the Bulldogs winning 76-73 on Jan. 23, 2016.

Exactly two years ago to the date of that game, the Razorbacks went double overtime in Stegeman Coliseum, and this time the extra work finally paid off for them.

Arkansas survived 17 lead changes and nine ties -- and rallied from a 16-point deficit in the first half -- to beat Georgia 80-77 on Tuesday night.

Razorbacks senior guard Daryl Macon scored 16 of the Hogs' 17 points in both overtimes. The only point of Arkansas' last 17 not scored by Macon was a made free throw by senior forward Trey Thompson.

Macon finished the game with 25 points, all coming after halftime.

Before hitting his last four three-pointers -- one in the first overtime and three in the second overtime -- Macon had been 1 of 6 from beyond the arc.

"After I hit two, I was like, 'Here comes three, here comes four,' " Macon said. "I just had to get my confidence back."

The Razorbacks (14-6, 4-4 SEC) played a double-overtime game for the first time since Jan. 16, 2013, when they beat Auburn 88-80 in Walton Arena.

That was the Razorbacks' first overtime game during Coach Mike Anderson's seven seasons. Now Anderson's Razorbacks have played 15 overtime games, with five in 2015-16.

Arkansas improved to 8-6 in overtime games under Anderson, including a 95-93 victory over Tennessee to open SEC play.

"We got 10 minutes of extra basketball and I told our guys before the first overtime, 'This is why we run Cleveland Hill,' " Anderson said on his postgame radio show in reference to the preseason conditioning regime that includes running up the steep street near campus. "I didn't know we would have to come back for a second overtime, so I said, 'This is why we run Cleveland Hill' twice.

"It took everything our guys had in them to find a way against a very good Georgia team that has played well at home."

The Bulldogs (12-7, 3-5) had been 8-1 at home, with the only loss to South Carolina.

Arkansas had been 0-4 on the road with losses at Houston, Mississippi State, Auburn and Florida by 26, 3, 11 and 15 points.

Anderson said on Monday that the Razorbacks couldn't afford to keep spotting opponents big leads, but they fell behind Georgia 27-11.

This time Arkansas found a way to come back and win.

"In order to win on the road, you've got to play with toughness," Anderson said. "I thought we did that. We got punched and we had some adversity, but we just hung in there together."

Anderson said rallying from a big deficit to win at Georgia reminded him of last seaosn's 26-10 Arkansas team, which trailed by 12 or more points in road victories at Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, LSU and South Carolina.

"This is big for us," said Razorbacks senior guard Jaylen Barford, who scored 24 points at Georgia. "It feels like we can get on a good winning streak now."

With 6-11 freshman Daniel Gafford going scoreless for the first time this season. the Razorbacks relied heavily on their six seniors, and it was about more than Macon and Barford combining to score 49 points.

Senior guard Anton Beard, playing on a sore right ankle, had 8 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds. Thompson blocked a shot by Georgia star forward Yante Maton (26 points, 15 rebounds) with 2.2 seconds left that saved the game.

After being benched against Ole Miss in the previous game, Arkansas senior forward Dustin Thomas had 8 points on 4-of-5 shooting and 2 steals. Senior forward Arlando Cook played just six minutes, but he had three rebounds .

"I think the guys who have been through the wars, the experienced guys, they were really key contributors," Anderson said. "It was just us staying on the same page and playing basketball. That's what we did."

Barford, who played 42 minutes, didn't score after hitting a driving basket with 7:45 left in regulation.

"He was probably playing tired," Anderson said. "He was playing sheer guts. But the beauty of this team here is one guy may carry you for a long time in the game, but then other guys can step in."

Barford said it was good to share the scoring load in the later part of regulation and then see Macon take take over in the two overtimes.

"I made plays for my teammates and they made plays for me," Barford said.

After Georgia jumped ahead early, Anderson said it was encouraging to see the Razorbacks respond.

"For us to come in and match their physicality, that's the sign of our team continuing to grow," Anderson said. "I thought we played more like we did early in the year."

The Razorbacks, who have won back-to-back conference games for the first time this season, play Oklahoma State (13-7) at 5 p.m. Saturday in Walton Arena in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

Oklahoma State, which lost at No. 14 Texas Tech 75-70 on Tuesday, has victories over Florida State, Oklahoma, Texas and Iowa State, so beating the Cowboys would continue to boost Arkansas' NCAA Tournament resume.

Anderson hopes finally breaking through on the road will get the Razorbacks playing as they did when they started 11-2 and were ranked No. 22 in The Associated Press poll before they opened 1-3 in the SEC.

"We were playing at a high level before we jumped into conference play," Anderson said. "There sometimes are defining moments and defining games that can put you back on track.

"Let's hope that this one here at Georgia can help us get back to being the team we want to be."

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Sports on 01/25/2018