FAYETTEVILLE - This Moses can’t part the Red Sea, but Moses will play a bigger part in the sea of Razorbacks red.
Moses Kingsley became Arkansas’ biggest emergence from three games at the Maui Classic in Hawaii, and not just because he stands 6-10.
The supposedly raw freshman from Nigeria, who moved to Mississippi during his 10th-grade year and spent a year at Huntington Prep in West Virginia, finished with 9 points and 7 rebounds with 1 blocked shot and 1 assist in just 10 minutes Wednesday in Arkansas’ 91-81 loss to No. 11 Gonzaga.
In the Razorbacks’ previous game at Maui, Kingsley helped Arkansas defeat Minnesota 87-73. He produced 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 blocked shot and 2 steals in 10 minutes in that game.
Kingsley wasn’t used in the Maui Classic opener. California beat Arkansas 85-77 in that game, primarily because it out rebounded Arkansas 50-31.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson noted the big difference.
“We talked about having toughness, having some men with some athletic ability,” Anderson said after the Minnesota game. “Kingsley gave us one of those pops.”
Anderson noted an even bigger difference after the Gonzaga game.
“How about Moses?” Anderson said. “Last night you thought he played well. Well, he built on that even more so in our game against a very good basketball team in Gonzaga. You can work with that.”
Kingsley had looked so raw compared to fellow freshman big man Bobby Portis, a 6-10 McDonald’s All-American who starts at center, that after the Red-White intrasquad game in October Anderson was asked if Kingsley would redshirt.
Anderson scoffed. Even though his late exposure to American basketball put Kingsley behind offensively, Anderson wasn’t going to redshirt a guy with so much rebounding and shot-blocking potential. Kingsley will help this season, Anderson asserted.
Although they finished 1-2 in Maui, playing three NCAA Tournament teams should help the Razorbacks improve.
“No question about it,” Anderson said.
Much improvement comes from Moses proving his coach a prophet.
“You are starting to see the emergence of Moses Kingsley,” Anderson said.
That could even lead to Portis and Kingsley being used as twin towers while they continue to be mixed and matched with forwards Alandise Harris, Coty Clarke and Jacorey Williams and starting swingman Michael Qualls.
RECOVERY TIME
The Razorbacks made the long journey home from Hawaii on Thanksgiving. They get ample recovery time to rest in their own beds and then practice on their own court before hosting Southeastern Louisiana on Tuesday night at Walton Arena.
Arkansas’ 1995 national runner-up team didn’t get all that recovery time upon flying home from Honolulu. Nolan Richardson’s Razorbacks won three hard games in three days against Oklahoma, Cincinnati and Iowa to win the Rainbow Classic, then flew home Dec. 31.
Still jet-lagged, they traveled Jan. 3 to Oxford, Miss. The next night former Ole Miss Coach Rob Evans’ inspired Rebels sprung a 76-71 upset in the SEC opener.
Anderson, a former assistant to Richardson, remembers it well.
“The legs, it takes awhile to get that out of your system,” Anderson said. “We’ll have some practices to get that jet lag out of our guys.”
Sports, Pages 22 on 11/30/2013