FAYETTEVILLE — Not long after the final buzzer sounded following Arkansas' 75-55 victory over Vanderbilt, Razorbacks forward Reggie Chaney headed up the tunnel behind the television broadcast table.
He reemerged in the tunnel minutes later, still in uniform, with a smoothie in hand. Chaney was greeted by multiple Arkansas fans outside the double doors of the Courtside Club as they offered pats on the shoulder and numerous remarks about his terrific performance against the Commodores.
Chaney was on his way back out to Nolan Richardson Court to get shots up.
The sophomore, who resided in coach Eric Musselman's doghouse following poor showings against Texas A&M and LSU, was instrumental in Arkansas' win Wednesday - its 14th of the season and third in SEC play. Chaney matched a career high with 14 points on a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor, grabbed 3 rebounds and handed out 2 assists in his 22 minutes.
Prior to a reporter completing a question in reference to Chaney's play, Musselman chimed in with, "Awesome."
"He’s been great the whole year," Musselman added. "I mean, he shoots all the time. He’s in the gym in off hours. He gets extra reps in the weight room. His attitude has been awesome. Certainly tonight, Reggie was awesome.
"Really proud of how he finished around the rim, and I thought he played with great intensity on the backboards as well."
Chaney provided a lift offensively in the first half as guards Isaiah Joe and Mason Jones struggled to find their touch. He added a layup 30 seconds after checking in at the 15:37 mark, then threw down a dunk 30 seconds later.
Before halftime, Chaney pitched in eight points and both of his assists, including one on a Jimmy Whitt jumper with 18 seconds left before halftime to give Arkansas a 34-28 lead.
"I wasn't playing my best, so I knew I had to earn that trust back with (Musselman)," said Chaney, whose 14 points are a career best in SEC play. "In practice I've been going real hard. He still believed in me tonight and played me, so I went in and I had to do what I had to do.
"Tonight, I came in and gave my best hustle and earned a little bit of his trust back."
In the second half, Chaney committed both of his turnovers, but he offset those mistakes with several big-time plays. His most impressive moment came after he offensive rebounded a Whitt miss and muscled a layup off the glass through contact.
Sophomore forward Ethan Henderson had an appropriate reaction to the play on the bench, flexing the muscle on his left arm while nodding his head in approval.
"I think Reggie came out tonight and played how we all know he can play," said Whitt, who scored a career-high 30 points. "Reggie has just been pushing through every day. Every day he comes into practice trying to get 1 percent better. I think tonight was one of those nights that it showed.
"It's never going to show overnight no matter how bad you want it to, but people (who aren't) behind closed doors don't see how hard the guy next to me comes in and works every day. Having a night like this, for me and for all of us in the locker room, we know that's the capability of what he can do."
Chaney's play continued a trend that dates back to his freshman season, too, in that he performs well when seeing the floor 20-plus minutes. In 10 such games in his career, Chaney is averaging 9.8 points and 5.5 rebounds, and Arkansas is 7-3 as a team.
He has reached double figures in scoring in six of those games, grabbed five or more rebounds seven times, finished with four or more assists in three games and blocked 22 shots.
"It felt really good just to help my team out," said Chaney, who briefly exited the game in the second half after his leg went numb. "The last couple of games I know I've been struggling, but just to come out and be ready, it felt real good.
"Tonight they trusted me."