FAYETTEVILLE — After hounding Northern Iowa guard AJ Green near midcourt with one minute to play Wednesday, JD Notae came away with a steal and was immediately fouled.
Upon being fouled by Green, Notae tipped the ball in the direction of Arkansas coach Eric Musselman as a lively crowd in Bud Walton Arena roared as loudly as it had all night. Notae had essentially sealed a win for the Razorbacks, who were leading 86-78.
Musselman proceeded to scoop up the loose ball and get in his star guard’s face before patting him on the backside. It was an outpouring of love for Notae and a glimpse into just how proud the third-year coach is of the redshirt senior’s defensive growth since joining his program.
“Defensively, he was not good a year ago the first half of the year,” Musselman said. “All of nonconference, I felt like he really had to improve as an individual defender and a team defender. Right now, he's probably as good as anyone we have on our roster as a team defender, and now he's turning into a go-to defender and stopper for us.
“He's creating offense through his steals and his activity on the ball.”
Notae’s second steal of the game and 11th of the season was the cherry on top of a brilliant all-around individual night and the Razorbacks’ 93-80 victory over the Panthers.
In following up on a 30-point outburst in the season opener against Mercer and an efficient 18-point outing in last Saturday’s win over Gardner-Webb, Notae flirted with a triple-double in his third outing. He finished with 17 points on 7 of 14 shooting, 8 rebounds and a game-high 9 assists.
Notae scored 11 of his 17 points in the first half and was spectacular as a distributor in the second as Arkansas played the final 14 minutes, 55 seconds without Davonte Davis. The sophomore was assessed a Flagrant 2 and ejected after shoving a Northern Iowa player into the court-side seats opposite the Razorbacks’ bench.
Notae took firm control of Arkansas’ offense, totaling 7 second-half assists — 6 after Davis’ departure — that generated 15 points. Two of his passes in the final eight minutes of the game led to the Razorbacks re-gaining the lead.
His final two assists, on consecutive possessions, pushed Arkansas’ lead from 79-78 to 84-78.
His nine assists and are his most in a Razorbacks uniform, and they produced 19 points for Arkansas.
“He was just phenomenal in every facet, offensively and defensively,” Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson said. “He is a heck of a player. We knew that coming in and he lived up to the hype. He is just a fantastic all-around player that deserves all the hype.”
Stanley Umude, the transfer forward from South Dakota, was on the receiving end of two of Notae’s assists. He noted that he has a sense of comfort offensively when sharing the floor with the guard.
“You know he's always going to be in control,” Umude said. “Playing with a threat like that, it takes pressure off of other guys, too. Just moving without the ball and you knowing that he's going to find you, it's a good feeling to be out there with him.”
According to HogStats.com, Notae became the first Arkansas player to finish with at least 17 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists since Courtney Fortson’s triple-double against North Carolina Central in December 2008.
His eight rebounds are his most in a game since he grabbed eight in a Jacksonville loss to NJIT in February 2019. And in terms of valuing possession as a player with a team-high usage rate (25.3%), according to KenPom data, Notae has just three turnovers in 104 minutes played this season.
“I thought JD as a distributor, (Northern Iowa) kind of hung their big defender with him and he drug their big guy away from the rim a little bit as they tried to soft trap him, so to speak,” Musselman said. “Instead of forcing the issue, he made the extra pass."