Arkansas left no doubt Wednesday night in Memorial Gym.
The Razorbacks, who led by only four at halftime after a so-so first half, finally stepped on the neck of an SEC opponent and hammered hapless Vanderbilt 84-48 to drop the Commodores to 0-17 in conference play. With the win, Arkansas (16-14, 7-10 SEC) avoids having to play on Wednesday in next week's SEC Tournament.
"I've been seeing some of that in practice, and it was good to see us do it for 40 minutes, even though there in the first half I thought we got a little stymied a little bit," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "But our defense was the constant, and now we're starting to make shots and get some transition baskets and open opportunities.
"I thought our guys played well. It's nice, when you play defense good and you're making shots, we've got a chance to really look good."
Daniel Gafford feasted on Vanderbilt once again, finishing with a game-high 20 points. The sophomore averaged 24 points on a combined 17-of-25 from the floor in two games against the Commodores this season. He also tied an SEC-high with four blocks and capped his strong night with a windmill dunk and shimmy in Arkansas' 55-point second half.
"He made some incredible shots off the bounce," Anderson said. "Early on, he was a little bit off balance, but then he got his balance, then, of course, we did a good job getting it to him. When you can get the game up and down, he's a difficult matchup. Our guys really did a good job getting the ball to him."
Former Fort Smith Northside star Isaiah Joe made history in the win. Joe, who hit 4-of-6 3-point attempts against the Commodores, now owns the program's single-season record for 3-pointers made with 104, breaking assistant coach Scotty Thurman's mark of 102 set in 1995.
Wednesday marked the eighth time in SEC play Joe knocked down at least four 3s.
"I just think he's getting better and better," Anderson said. "He's going to be a complete player. He's got a chance to be a special, special player. I can't say enough. He's such a joy to coach on and off the floor, and he's eventually going to be one of the leaders on this team.
"He's a soft-spoken guy, but he's got a big game."
Mason Jones, who came off the bench for the fourth consecutive game, turned in one of his best all-around games in quite some time, finishing with 16 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals. After scoring 22 points against Ole Miss on Saturday, Jones has now scored 15-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time since pouring in 22 and 18 points, respectively, in losses to LSU and Tennessee in mid-January.
Desi Sills, who has come on a bit of late offensively, pitched in 11 points as well. He is averaging 9.5 points per game in his four starts this season and shooting 8-of-12 from 3-point range. Anderson slotting Sills in the starting lineup has really paid off.
Anderson was also complimentary of Adrio Bailey's play. Bailey finished with four points on a pair of jumpers and blocked two shots in his 11 minutes of play.
"He gave us that extra boost," Anderson said, "that energy and that veteran guy out there - the guy who's stayed the course and did what he had to do."
Reggie Chaney, too, chipped in seven points, four rebounds and a block. It's the second time in three games he's scored at least seven points. He threw down a big, impressive one-hand slam in the first half on Yanni Wetzell then blocked Wetzell's shot out of bounds minutes later. Nice night for him.
Granted Vanderbilt is far and away the worst offensive basketball team in the SEC, Arkansas' defense deserves some credit for setting the tone beginning around the 13-minute mark of the first half. The Commodores missed their final 16 shots before halftime, and wound up shooting 29.6 percent for the game.
Vanderbilt also turned the ball over 23 times, which resulted in 33 Razorbacks points - a season high. In terms of defensive rating (72.1), Wednesday was Arkansas' best game of the season, per KenPom, and tied for ninth-best in Anderson's tenure.
"We were everywhere. It seemed like we had seven guys out there," Anderson said. "We had 21 deflections at half and we end up with 40, and that, to me, is the goal. We were disruptive."