FAYETTEVILLE — He’s no longer Little Daryl.
Little Rock Parkview head coach Al Flanigan, whose team routed Watson Chapel 75-41 Tuesday at the Class 5A state tournament in Magnolia, first got a look at current Arkansas junior guard Daryl Macon in the eighth grade.
“When he came over as a ninth grader, he was the littlest thing on the team,” Flanigan said. “He was a little ole bitty guy. When I put him in when he was in the ninth grade, they used to laugh at him, but they quit laughing when he started putting up shots from 30 feet and they were going in.
“Daryl always has had the knock of putting the ball in the hole and right now (Arkansas head coach) Mike (Anderson) has him playing defense and that is a good thing to see.”
Macon is averaging 13.7 points per game - second-best on his team - as Arkansas (22-7, 11-5) gets ready to play at No. 12 Florida (23-6, 12-3) Wednesday night at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.
He has hit 45 percent from the field, 39.2 percent from 3-point range and 87.3 percent from the free throw line and has a team-high 66 assists for the Razorbacks this season after starring at Holmes, Miss., Community College.
“He had a really good summer before his senior year at Parkview, an outstanding year for us and then two more outstanding years at Holmes,” Flanigan said. “And now he is having a really good season at Arkansas.”
Macon was named the SEC Player over the Week after a season-high 30 points in a win over Ole Miss and 15 in a road win over South Carolina.
He finished the South Carolina game by knocking down four free throws.
“Daryl has always been a great shooter and a clutch player,” Flanigan said. “He’s just getting better every game and it is a joy to watch.”
Javon Franklin had 17 points to lead Parkview in its win on Tuesday while Razorback signee Khalil Garland added 14 and Arkansas 2018 pledge Ethan Henderson chipped in 13.
The Patriots (26-5) will play the winner of Harrison-Green County Tech Thursday at 8:30 p.m.
Little Rock Mills - led by Razorback signee Darious Hall (6-7, 210) - will play host Magnolia at 5:30 p.m.