FAYETTEVILLE — Even though Tuesday's crowd was not like the ones of old at Bud Walton Arena, Georgia coach Tom Crean left with the impression of being overwhelmed.
Arkansas forced 16 turnovers in a 70-60 win over the Bulldogs. The trip was the first to Fayetteville for Crean, a former head coach at Marquette and Indiana, and 10-year Division I assistant.
“There are a lot of good defenses in the league and they are good, too,” Crean said of the Razorbacks. “They bring a lot of pressure to the game and they got us some, made a couple of bad passes and a couple of guys were extremely soft with the basketball, which you cannot do against them.
“Of all the teams in the league, they’re the most that you feel you’re playing 5 vs. 6 or 5 vs. 7, because not only the way they put pressure, but because of the way they run at the ball. It always feels like there’s more people out there, and that's a compliment. I think that's one of the reasons they're so good is because it seems like there's more people.”
Mason Jones had a game-high 23 points, Jalen Harris 13, Daniel Gafford 10 and he and freshman Reggie Chaney combined for nine of Arkansas’ 14 blocked shots.
It was second win in three games for Arkansas (12-8, 3-4 SEC) after enduring a four-game losing streak. The Razorbacks have won two SEC home games, sandwiched around a three-point loss at Texas Tech.
“It was a good win,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but at the same time in the SEC games are going to be like that. You’ve got to find a way to win. So we found a way to win. We found a way to defend the home court. That was what it was.”
Jones had the same sentiment.
“It was good to get a win at the crib,” Jones said. “ It was good to see us keep developing as a team, knowing that at Texas Tech it wasn’t a fluke that we played good defense. We brought it again tonight. As long as we keep fixing our errors, then we’re growing and that’s a good thing to see. I know that Coach emphasized that, that we should keep growing as a team and keep working hard and that’s what we are doing.”
Jones was 8 of 14 from the field, 2 of 7 from 3-point range and 5 of 6 from the free-throw line. He also had six rebounds and four assists.
“Yeah, he was really good,” Crean said. “ We put a lot of emphasis on (Isaiah) Joe and Jones and we didn’t do a very good job on (Jones). He really moved and could go to his right hand extremely well. He got loose.” Georgia out-rebounded Arkansas 56-32, but the Bulldogs shot only 29 percent (19 65) from the field, 7 of 24 from 3-point range and 15 of 29 from the line.
“We missed a lot of close, easy baskets and not just because they have a shot blocker in Daniel Gafford,” Crean said. “We had self-inflicted wounds at the basket today and then we didn't make enough free throws.
"We just sometimes have to realize we can go back up, but we looked at it at halftime and if we make our free throws and even a couple of layups then we're up 10.”
Georgia had hit 32 of 48 shot attempts in a 98-88 win over Texas at home last Saturday.
“They scored 98 points and we hold them to 60 points,” Anderson said. “I’ve been saying our defense is getting better. Maybe they had something to do with that or maybe it was some of our guys. But I thought our guys were pretty active. We took charges. We defended the rim. I thought we did a good job of that.
“They made some threes and got some loose balls that turned into baskets for them. What I love about our guys, they stayed together. That’s all they talked about. These guys are growing, they’re learning. They said it. When adversity came, hey, let’s stay together guys. Let’s stay as one. For the coach to start hearing that, then that means they’re starting to get it.”
Chaney (6 points, 6 rebounds) had five blocks, Gafford four, and Harris and Gabe Osabuohien had two apiece. The 14 blocks were the most ever in an SEC game for Arkansas.
"I just kept seeing people’s shots get blocked and I was like just keep on doing what you are doing," said Jones, who had one block. "It was good to see Daniel and Reggie was blocking a lot of shots."
Chaney was also key on the front of the press.
“I just feel like I’m a pretty quick player,” Chaney said. “I just like playing hard and just going after the ball. It’s something I always did. I just like the energy.”
He was a little surprised by the blocks.
“Because they were actually bigger than us,” Chaney said.
Arkansas fell down 11-2 early, but rallied to take a 33-31 lead into halftime by scoring five quick points on Jones’ 3 and Harris’ buzzer-beating layup.
“To me, for them to bounce back in this game in the SEC, knowing that Georgia just came off a big win in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, I was really proud of our guys," Anderson said. "I really was.”
Arkansas guard Isaiah Joe was under the weather and hit just one 3-pointer, but it was one to send Arkansas ahead 55-52 with 5:06 left and the Razorbacks never trailed afterward.
“That definitely got us going," Jones said. "After (Joe) made that three, we got a stop, Dan got fouled and it started another run for us to end the game, a run we really needed.”
The only real suspense late in the game was whether Arkansas would get to 70 points, which gets ticket holders a buy one, get one free meal at a local chicken establishment.
Jones sealed that by hitting the back end of a two-shot free throw with 15 seconds left.
“I didn’t even know why everybody was so quiet,” Jones said. “Then I knew at the end of the game why everybody was clapping for me. I got them free chicken.
"I’m glad I can give them people free chicken.”