Michael Qualls and Bobby Portis: Arkansas’ 1-2 Punch

 

Michael Qualls and Bobby Portis Combine for 46 of the Hog’s Points

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Senior Rashad Madden made four late free throws that helped No. 22 Arkansas to stay in the lead in an 80-72 victory over Tennessee on Friday night in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.

The second-seeded Razorbacks (25-7) led 55-35 early in the second half before missing 12 of their final 15 shots, a drought that allowed the Volunteers to rally to 69-65 with 3 1/2 minutes left.

Madden (nine points) then made all of his attempts to start Arkansas’ path toward victory at the foul line. The Razorbacks (25-7) made seven of their next 10 attempts and 32 of 39 overall to advance to Saturday’s semifinal against the South Carolina-Georgia winner.

Bobby Portis was 9 of 10 from the line en route to 26 points, including 18 in the first half. Michael Qualls added 20 for Arkansas.

Senior guard Josh Richardson had team highs of 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Volunteers (16-16) before fouling out late.

Kevin Punter added 13 points and Robert Hubbs III eight for the Vols, who shot just 33 percent but stayed close by outrebounding the Razorbacks 43-35 including 20-10 offensively.

What had shaped up to be the tournament’s first rout ended up as another tight contest that Arkansas won thanks to strong free-throw shooting from nearly everyone.

Portis did his part at the line, but his dominant start gave Arkansas fans something to cheer by racing to a 10-0 lead in just over two minutes that included five by the sophomore forward. His 3-pointer prompted a timeout from Tennessee coach Donnie Tyndall in an effort to regroup.

Portis followed with another 3-pointer for an 18-3 lead before Devon Baulkman finally answered from long range for the Vols, whose challenge from that point was keeping the Razorbacks from breaking it wide open.

That was asking a lot against an Arkansas squad that got points from every starter except Harris, who contributed two early assists, but Tennessee kept it close for a little while in the first half by making free throws and getting a 3-pointer from Hubbs to get within 20-13.

Arkansas responded with a 19-6 run led by Portis, who had 18 first-half points. The spurt included a sequence where Harris’ three-point play preceded Anthlon Bell’s four-point play a minute later.

Bell made two more free throws for a 39-19 lead that looked safe until the Vols found their resolve and made it tense. Tennessee couldn’t stop Arkansas’ march to the line and missed some key chances down the stretch as well.

Post-Game Quotes from Arkansas

THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes.

COACH ANDERSON: In this new season, games are going to go down to the wire. There’s a thin line between winning and losing. Our guys had the resiliency to finish that game off.

I tell you what, Donnie Tyndall has had Tennessee primed to play. They had a game up under their belt, but we came out shooting the basketball well.

But they showed signs that they were a second half team, and sure enough that lead we had, it just kind of dissipated over the period of the second half.

But I was so proud of our guys. I looked at the stats and the stat I’m most proud of, we were 32 for 39 from the free-throw line. Big difference in the game.

Our defense was good and we found a way to ride these two guys, and other guys kind of pitched in. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.

THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student-athletes, please.

Q. You guys had a high five there before the back-ups came in with six seconds left. It seemed more like relief. I saw your face, Michael. Was that what it was, just, All right, we’re out of here, let’s move on, next day?

MICHAEL QUALLS: Yeah, it was a relief. It was just a tough battle tonight. We stayed diligent. Shout out to Tennessee. They came to play. They didn’t give up. They came, they gave us their best shot.

BP, we road him, and everybody else contributed and stepped up and played big.

Q. Bobby, we’ve asked you guys about this SEC tournament losing streak, and now we don’t have to ask you about it anymore. How good did it feel to break that and get that monkey off ya’ll’s back?

BOBBY PORTIS: It feels great because now I don’t have to hear you asking any more questions about it.

(Laughter.)

So that’s cool just to come here just to win our first game and to come in tomorrow at 2:30, and just get after it again.

Q. Bobby, obviously you guys are focused on tomorrow’s game. But how do you avoid not getting caught up in what could happen Sunday with a potential matchup against Kentucky, depending upon what happens?

BOBBY PORTIS: Just one game at a time, just taking our time with the game. We still haven’t won our game plan Saturday to even play Kentucky. And Like Kentucky hasn’t even won their game against Auburn yet.

So in due time everything will play out. But we have to just come in tomorrow just ready to play.

Q. For both you guys, Alandise had a pretty big game, hit some big free throws, he had nine rebounds, four blocks, what did ya’ll think of or Alandise’s game and his contributions?

BOBBY PORTIS: He brought the energy today. That’s something that we need. Just because he brings a toughness to our basketball team and he always just goes hard for us each and every play, even on defense.

MICHAEL QUALLS: It just goes to show you that we’re a very deep team. This team just

isn’t built around us. At any given point any of our players can step up and play big minutes and do big things. That’s what is so key to us and this late season play.

Q. Obviously y’all jumped out 13-0 and 18-3. What allowed y’all to come out of the locker room and play so well early on?

BOBBY PORTIS: Just coming ready to play, because last Saturday, it was a heartbreaker for us. So today I feel like all our guys wanted to come out and just make a statement.

MICHAEL QUALLS: Like he said, just bad taste in our mouths from the end of SEC conference play. We just wanted to come out and show everybody Arkansas brand basketball, that we can really get up, we can really defend.

For the most part, in the first half I felt like we sped them up. Tennessee does a great job of the possession game, holding the ball down to the last couple seconds of the side. We sped them up pretty much. I feel like our whole team was hungry and we’re ready.

Q. For both you guys, a lot of the higher seeds have been getting beat. LSU, Ole Miss. Is that something you guys noticed and did you say, Well, that’s not going to happen to us?

BOBBY PORTIS: That had nothing to do with us. We just tried to control what we can control, what we can control. Just go out there and play as hard as we can and just ball up.

MICHAEL QUALLS: Yeah, coach always tells us we just see it through his eyes and give everything we got and then we’re going to be satisfied with the results.

We don’t get caught up in what other teams are doing. We just focus on Arkansas basketball. Let’s focus on how we can get better. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to just watch this game, see what we did good and see what we can do better and just try and build on that for tomorrow’s game.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We’ll excuse you to the locker room and take questions for coach.

Q. You talked about your free-throw shooting. You didn’t make a field goal the last seven minutes 18 seconds. Did you realize that as it was happening? What were you trying to get going there at the end that allowed to you win the game?

COACH ANDERSON: We actually were trying to get the ball inside. I thought we did a great job of attacking early on. We got the ball into Bobby and he was pinned in there and we attacked their zone. The second half, I didn’t feel we attacked with that same mindset.

But they were fouling as well. So you got to go ahead and knock free throws down. So it was a game of runs. But I didn’t know it was seven minutes we didn’t score a field goal. They had something to do with that. We had something to do with it.

But we turned the ball over. We had multiple turnovers at critical times that enabled them to get some offense off of our turnovers. But more importantly, I think that we had the ball in the right hands at the right guys going down the stretch. Ky made some big free throws. Bobby we got it into him a few times.

Tennessee, they do a good job with their defense. But as Michael alluded to, I thought we sped them up. I thought that was the difference in the game. Fatigue became a factor. You don’t see Josh Richardson miss many free throws. He missed a couple right going down the stretch.

They played last night and we wanted to make them use a lot of energy. So our mindset today was energy and attack. And I thought we did a good job of that.

Q. Alandise had nine rebounds and he hasn’t always been the greatest rebounder and he hit some big free throws. What did you think of his game?

COACH ANDERSON: Motivation was you get rebounds, you get a chance to play. He played over 30-some odd minutes. So he did a good job of going to the glass. He played athletic for us. He gives us that toughness that you got to have. Bobby is in the help position where he’s going to try to block a shot, so we got to have that off-side rebounding.

And Alandise was that guy today. I thought he played well. Got up and made his free throws. Just made tough plays for us and we’re going to need that third guy. We always going to need that third guy. We know what Mike and Bobby bring to the table, but you got to have some other guys to step in.

We scored 80 points against a team that only gives up 60-some odd points. That’s a pretty good statement for the first game in the tournament.

As a coach, you worry just recklessly because you never know how you’re going to come out in that first game. But our guys came out, we made some shots early on, but more importantly, I thought we did a good job of defending. They only had four field goals in the first half. They had like 17 free throws. But as the game went on, they made their runs. You know they had a run in them, but Alandise it was good to see him step up.

Q. You said the other day you wanted to flip the script on this SEC tournament stuff. How good does it feel to break that losing streak and flip the script like you talked about?

COACH ANDERSON: I’m just so dialed into winning. I’m so dialed into this team getting better. As Mike alluded to, one game at a time. Our focus was to come in here and play a team that we had a rubber match with them. We won at our place. They won at their place. We know their defense is what they hang their hats on.

They have got a tremendous player in Josh Richardson. So to me that was the focus. As you get to this time of the year, post-season play, it’s about surviving and advance. So that was the focus of this basketball team. This team has done a lot of firsts that haven’t been done in a while. So that doesn’t surprise me. They’re hungry, they’re humble, they’re a hard working group.

Q. Can you talk about how physical the game was. I think there were 72 free throws and maybe 57 fouls called.

COACH ANDERSON: It’s funny because one of the officials, I asked him, I said, How was the last two games? He said, Just like this one here. It was like it was just a mugging it seemed like. But that’s part of it.

We wanted to speed them up. I thought we got after them a little bit. They tend to let you play a little bit. But at the same time, we attacked. The thing I was more proud of is that we got to the free-throw line just as much as they did. We attacked them.

They ended up with 20 offensive rebounds, and if you get 20 offensive rebounds, there are going to be some fouls in that.

But hopefully we’ll clean it up tomorrow and play a much better game. The first half we shot the ball well. Second half we shot free throws well. We had some bad turnovers at the wrong time, but overall I thought our defense was pretty

good. I thought it was really good. We can play better.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.

COACH ANDERSON: All right. Thank y’all.

Post-game quotes from Tennessee

THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and get started with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student athletes.

COACH TYNDALL: Well, I said all year this, and this is third time we played Arkansas, that I think that is a really, really good basketball team. A team that in my opinion could go deep in the NCAA tournament.

We talked a ton the last 24 hours as a team, the biggest key would be to take care of the basketball and not turn it over against their pressure. We started the game on our heels.

To their credit, they were very aggressive and forced some turnovers. We dug the hole for ourselves, and like my team, like our team has done the entire season, there was no quit. They continued to fight and scrap. I think we got it to six and had two open looks from three that just did not go in.

But I’m proud of my guys. They competed like they have all year long for 40 minutes. If we could have just started the game a little bit better, maybe it’s a different story. But give Arkansas credit for that.

THE MODERATOR: Take questions for the student athletes, please.

Q. I think that at one point you had eight, nine consecutive points there. A lot of the time it hasn’t been you scoring as much this season. What did you see in Arkansas’s defense that allowed you to do what you did there, especially in the second half?

Kevin Punter: Just open areas. Rich did a good job of just attacking the hole and drawing defenders and I had a little bit of room and just let it fly.

Q. Can you talk about the mentality of this team and what coach was talking about not fighting or not giving up and fighting for 40 minutes?

Josh Richardson: You mean the mentality that we played with or the mentality now?

Q. Mentality that you played with.

COACH TYNDALL: I just think that we went in the game and were confident. I think we kind of got off to a slow start and let them get up by like 12 points off the bat. So it’s just tough to dig yourself out of a hole against a team like Arkansas.

But I think that rest of the game was a testament to our season, to how we persevered through problems and everything. And we never stopped fighting. So I’m proud of our effort.

Q. For both players, when you did get it close there late, was there a feel that if just one more basket went down, that you would be doing exactly what you did last night?

Josh Richardson: Don’t want to dwell on the past or anything like that in the game. We were just trying to keep attacking them when we got rebounds. Coach kept telling us throughout the game, If you get an open look, let it fly. So that’s what we were doing. So I think we got good looks all game, they just didn’t fall.

Kevin Punter: Same question? I just want to piggyback off what Josh said. We got pretty good looks and a lot of time it rimmed in and out. We got a few offensive rebounds and the same thing again. I know Hubbs had one in the corner that he missed that that he normally makes. But it happens.

Q. Talk about the play where they called a foul on you and on that inbounds play, the TV didn’t show all that much. Josh Richardson: Michael Qualls was kind of trying to post me up to get an inbound pass and it was a slow pass thrown. I hit the ball and they called a foul. So, I mean, you know refs aren’t perfect, we’re not perfect, so tough calls happen sometimes.

THE MODERATOR: All right. We’ll excuse you to the locker room and take questions for coach.

Q. Guys talked about it in the locker room, Robert Hubbs said you’ve been down quite a bit this year, but your guys keep fighting, keep fighting, keep clawing to the end. What did it say about your kids that down 20 at the half, to claw back and get that within a four point game and make Arkansas sweat it out?

COACH TYNDALL: Well, that’s been our deal all year. You’ve seen us play about every game. We ended up playing 32 games and I think we played as hard as you can probably play for 31 and a half. The only game I keep going back to is the first half at home against LSU.

Other than that, these kids gave me everything they had. You think about we got two skinny freshmen up front, a 6’7″ post player, who is really a 3 4 and a 6’4″ post player who is really a wing player. We get 20 offensive rebounds against that team. That’s grit and that’s effort. And that’s competing for 40 minutes.

As I’ve said all season, I love my team, we certainly need to grow our program and add depth and size and all those things that come through recruiting, but these are good kids that competed every day and I’m really, really proud of them.

Q. As tip off approaches, does a coach ever have a real feel for what the mentality of his team is or the mental state or the preparation, or is it just constantly a surprise when the ball goes in the air?

COACH TYNDALL: That’s a great question. I think that I usually feel, if our team’s not right, which was very seldom the case, you can feel that. A lot of times you think your team’s ready and they prove that they are. Other times you think they’re ready and for whatever reason, you start out a little sluggish.

But I thought our team was really, really focused in the film room last night and today. The key as we knew would be taking care of the basketball and for whatever reason, we started a little bit on our heels, which was surprising, because I thought we were ready to go. But we did bounce back the second half.

Q. Portis killed you guys in the first half. What adjustments did you make at halftime to counter him?

COACH TYNDALL: Well, the biggest thing is he’s just so, so strong and so athletic. A lot of times they just play over the top of us. We were in decent position, but they throw it a little bit higher than we could go get it and he makes plays on balls.

He’s got great hands. His second jump is incredible. Probably four or five, six of his points came on offensive rebounds where we didn’t block him out.

I thought the second half we did a better job of getting a body on him and limiting his offensive rebounds. We were quicker to the double team when he did catch it off the post a little bit. We were double teaming him the first half. We weren’t getting to the double team and he was splitting it or getting a bucket. I thought we did a better job of that in the second half.

Q. As far as any potential post season play, how do you weigh whatever invitations may come your way and whether to play in them or not and things below the NIT, obviously?

COACH TYNDALL: Well, that would be something I would discuss with my athletic director, Coach Hart and Jon Gilbert. It would probably be no post season unless it happened to be the NIT and if we’re still in the mix there or not.

If we were to get an invitation there, I believe we certainly would do that. And the other two would be up for discussion, although I would lean towards saying we probably would not play in either of those two.

Q. What was going through your mind in that first half when you guys went 4 25? Have you ever seen a half like that, worst nightmare?

COACH TYNDALL: Well, I tell you, we have had a few halves like that this year, believe it or not. We really struggled at the offensive end of the floor where we just don’t have that true post player to throw it to and alleviate some pressure from our perimeter.

But the biggest thing were the turnovers. That’s what bothered me the most. We weren’t aggressive probably the first 10 minutes of the half. We settled for some jump shots. And so I just thought at halftime we collected our thoughts a little bit and played with a lot more confidence.

But that first half was rough, no question about it.

UP NEXT

Arkansas: Faces Georgia in SEC semifinal on Saturday at 2:25 p.m. Central.