UA's Gafford tuning out NBA talk

Arkansas center Daniel Gafford goes up for a dunk during practice Thursday, March 15, 2018, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

DETROIT -- The Arkansas Razorbacks will open the NCAA Tournament in the NBA's newest arena.

The Razorbacks take on Butler today in Little Caesars Arena, which opened last fall and cost $882 million to build.

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It's the new home for the NBA's Detroit Pistons as well as the NHL's Red Wings.

"I'm really excited to play here," Razorbacks 6-11 freshman Daniel Gafford said. "It's going to give me the feeling of being on an NBA court."

Gafford might be playing on NBA courts next season.

Most mock draft websites list the El Dorado native as a first-round pick. According to nbadraft.net and USA Today, Gafford is projected as the No. 19 pick to Philadelphia. Sports Illustrated projects him as the No. 15 pick to Phoenix.

Gafford said Thursday that he's aware of the draft projections, but that he tries not to pay much attention to them.

"I don't listen to what people say about the NBA Draft, because I've got a whole season ahead of me now," he said. "So I just focus on the task at hand

"I look every now and then, but I don't let it give me the big head, because it will cloud my thinking and it'll mess with my game when I'm playing."

Gafford is averaging 11.9 points, 6-2 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots in 22.6 minutes. He's shooting 61.8 percent from the field (162 of 262) and 52.2 percent on free throws (82 of 157).

The statistics are good, but what has Gafford moving up on draft boards is his athleticism and how he plays the game.

"Daniel's a freak of nature," Razorbacks senior forward Trey Thompson said. "He's 6-11 and he can run and jump like nobody else in the country. He's been fun to watch and play with out there."

Gafford punctuated the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's 80-72 victory over Florida in the SEC Tournament last week with a windmill dunk on a breakaway with 15 seconds left.

The dunk was No. 6 on ESPN SportCenter's Top 10 highlights, but what may have been more impressive was how hard Gafford ran back on defense.

"Dan was ready for the next play," Razorbacks senior guard Daryl Macon said. 'That shows how bad he wants to win. We only had a few seconds left, but he was ready to get another stop."

Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said the play showed Gafford's "big-time motor" that's always running full throttle.

"This guy exchanges ends faster than guards," Anderson said. "He play with a lot of passion and energy. I think he's just having fun out there."

Gafford downplayed his hustle.

"That's just the mindset I have," he said. "I like playing defense."

Gafford has set an Arkansas freshman record with 73 blocked shots and also tied the school record for blocks in an SEC game with seven against Vanderbilt and Auburn.

"He's a monster," Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl said.

Gafford can be pretty monstrous on offense, too. He has 74 dunks -- almost twice as many as Butler's 47.

"It's a great stat to be honest," Gafford said. "I mean, I like dunking."

If Gafford were an SEC team his dunks would rank ahead of Missouri (76), Tennessee (68), Florida (66), Ole Miss (64), Vanderbilt (61), Georgia (53) and South Carolina (39).

"Daniel's a phenomenal talent," said Sidney Moncrief, the former Arkansas All-American guard who was an NBA All-Star for Milwaukee. "He's still awfully young. Still feeling his way around, I think, offensively and defensively.

"But he's developed a lot just over the course of the season. I like his effort and I like his attitude, and I like the fact he's gotten better as the season's gone on."

Macon said he's not surprised by how well Gafford has played this season.

"This is exactly what I thought he was going to do," Macon said. "He's a force on the offensive end and the defensive end.

"He's got so much in his game with scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, making good defensive rotations, sprinting the floor.

"You don't find many big men like him. He's one of a kind."

Butler's biggest starters are 6-8 senior Tyler Wideman and 6-7 senior Kelan Martin.

"I think it'll be a great game for Daniel," Arkansas senior guard Jaylen Barford said. "He's just got to stay aggressive and stay locked in. We've going to feed him and try to get him going first and then just go from there.

"But I don't think they have a big like Daniel."

Butler Coach LaVall Jordan called Gafford a "tremendous talent" who has great mobility for his size and length.

"He affects the game without scoring points," Jordan said. "He really affects the game at the rim, so he makes it tough to to go down there and get easy baskets, because of his shot-blocking ability.

"On the other end he's around the rim for them offensively with tip-ins and lobs. So he's a challenge."

Gafford said his game has come a long way since the season started.

"I've improved in a lot of aspects," he said. "I've become stronger. I've improved on my post skills. I've improved on my jump shot. I need to improve on a lot more things, like free throw shooting."

Playing in the SEC, he said, helped push him to get better.

"In the SEC it got more physical than the preseason," Gafford said. "I was pretty much scoring with ease in the preseason.

"When the SEC started, I was getting pushed around like I was a little kid. I didn't like that, so I had to work on some things."

Gafford has heard from a lot of fans on social media about coming back to Arkansas for his sophomore season rather than moving on to the NBA.

"There are fans that say, 'Come back and give us another year, we need you,' and all that," Gafford said. "I just push that to the side and still focus on the season."

Sports on 03/16/2018