Mike Anderson – On Road, Team Must Play 40 Minutes

Basketball, Featured, Razorbacks | December 5, 2014 by Sporting Life Arkansas | 0 Comments

AMES, Iowa – After falling behind early in hostile territory, the No. 18/21 Arkansas men’s basketball team fought back in the second half, but ultimately dropped its first game of the season to No. 20/19 Iowa State, 95-77 in front of a sell-out crowd of 14,384 at Hilton Coliseum.

Dustin Hogue scored 14 for the Cyclones (5-1), who led by as many as 23 points in extending their non-conference home winning streak to 24 games.

Iowa State’s fast-break offense overwhelmed the Razorbacks (6-1) from the opening tip. The Cyclones took their first double-digit lead less than six minutes in and led 52-32 at the break.

Bobby Portis scored 19 to lead the Razorbacks (6-1), who haven’t won a road game as a ranked team since 1999.

This was billed as potentially one of the highest-scoring games of the season. Arkansas entered ranked fourth nationally at 90 points per game, and Iowa State was averaging 83.4 points through five games.

The Razorbacks knew they were in trouble once they found themselves down 15 after 12 minutes — even though they were shooting 50 percent from the field.

Iowa State pushed the tempo better than it had all season, and the Arkansas defense appeared powerless to stop the Cyclones.

Iowa State went on a 13-0 run midway through the first half to go up 39-20, and Niang’s layup made it 48-26 with 2:26 left.

The Cyclones hit 18 of their first 28 shots — with assists on 13 of their made baskets — and nailed seven 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

Portis hit a few shots early to keep Arkansas briefly within striking distance, and its press defense caused Iowa State some issues in the second half.

But it was clear from the early stages that the Razorbacks were headed to their first loss of the season.

Alandise Harris had 15 points for Arkansas, which never got within single digits in the second half.

Quick Hits
• Arkansas entered with a national-best 20.7 assists per game and passed out 22.
• Just the second time in coach Anderson’s career he’s lost a game with 20+ assists (84-2).
• Portis and Qualls have each reached double figures a team-best six times on the year.
• Portis’ 19 points came on 8-of-10 from the floor and included a team-high rebounds.
• Portis hit both three-point attempts and is now 7-of-8 from long range on the year.
• Harris’ 15 are a season-high as he now sits just two points shy of 1,000 for his career (Arkansas & Houston).
• The double figure game was the 50th of Harris’ career.
• Madden has passed out at least five assists in all but one game this season.
• Madden has led the team in assists five straight games and six times on the year.
• Watkins set career-bests for rebounds (6) and assists (5) while coming away with four steals.
• Watkins leads Arkansas with 18 steals on the year, including one in each game.

Coach Mike Anderson Postgame Sound
“I thought Iowa State was a step ahead of us in the first half and for that to happen for 20 minutes that’s too big of a hole to get into. Our guys showed some fight in the second half, which I’m pleased with, but on the road you have to be ready to play for 40 minutes.”

Up Next
No. 18 Arkansas will play its third true road game of the season on Sunday when it heads to ACC foe Clemson. The game is the second part of a home-and-home with the Tigers after the Razorbacks were victorious at Bud Walton Arena last year. It will mark the first time since 1999-2000 that Arkansas has played two ACC teams in the same season after defeating Wake Forest, 83-63, on Nov. 19. Tip is slated for 4 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

And here is how it was reported in Ames, Iowa by Iowa State:

AMES, Iowa – No. 20 Iowa State (5-1) raced out to a 20-point halftime lead and never looked back in a 95-77 rout over No. 18 Arkansas (6-1) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge Thursday night in Hilton Coliseum.

Bryce Dejean-Jones was perfect from the field (8-8 FG) to lead the way with 27 points and Georges Niang added 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor. Dejean-Jones became just the fifth Cyclone in school history to make all of his shots from the floor with eight or more attempts.

The Cyclones scorched the nets for a season-high 64.0 percent clip from the floor and drilled 10-of-19 shots from 3-point range in the victory.
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How it happened…
The Cyclones put on a bona fide offensive clinic in the first half. Iowa State shot 64.3 percent from the field (18-28 FG), including a 7-of-14 effort from 3-point range, to race out to a 52-32 lead at the break.

It was 12-4 ISU after Naz Long buried a 3-pointer before the Razorbacks cut the gap to 14-9 with 15:47 left in the first half. Bobby Portis had seven of UA’s first nine points.

The Cyclones quickly answered with an 8-0 run behind a trey and a monster dunk from Dejean-Jones to push ISU up 22-9. The Razorbacks started to creep back by cutting the Cyclone lead to 26-20, however.

After that, it was all ISU. Back-to-back treys from Matt Thomas and Niang started a huge 13-0 run, as the Cyclones all of sudden held a 39-20 lead with 6:18 left before the break.

ISU led by as many as 22 points in the opening period, as Niang and Dejean-Jones had 14 and 13 first half points, respectively.

The Razorbacks didn’t go away in the second half. The lead was trimmed to 65-51, but ISU had an answer with a Dejean-Jones hoop and a Long 3-pointer to give ISU a 70-51 lead with 11:06 left in the game.

Arkansas then countered with an 11-3 run to close the margin to 73-62 with a little over nine minutes remaining.

It was a 14-point game until the Cyclones sealed it with a 7-0 run behind a Dejean-Jones 3-pointer and bucket, and a Niang tip-in to give ISU a comfortable 89-71 lead with 4:23 remaining.

The #cyclONEgameball goes to…
Georges Niang. Niang scored over 20 points (26) for the 14th time in his career by drilling 9-of-12 shots from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 6-of-6 at the free-throw line. Niang scored many key baskets in the second half to halt Razorback comeback attempts and he led ISU in assists, dishing out eight dimes to equal his career high.

Next Up
The Cyclones are back in action next Tuesday (Dec. 9) playing host to UMKC. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.

Game Notes
*Naz Long has made a 3-pointer in 14-straight games.
*ISU is now 51-4 in Hilton Coliseum in the last four seasons.
*ISU has won 24 consecutive non-conference games at home.
*ISU has defeated its last five non-conference ranked opponents at home.
*Georges Niang was in double figure scoring for the 58th time with 26 points, his 3rd 20+ game of the season and 14th in his career.
*Niang hit two 3-pointers to rank 18th all-time in school history with 90.
*Niang tied a career high with eight assists.
*ISU is now 4-2 all-time in conference challenge games.
*ISU is now 10-3 vs. ranked opponents in the last two seasons.
*ISU shot 64.0 percent from the floor, a season high total and the fourth time this season ISU has made over half of its shots in a game.
*Bryce Dejean-Jones scored 27 points, his second 20+ game of the season and eighth of his career.
*Dejean-Jones is the fifth Cyclone in school history to go perfect from the field (8-8 FG) with eight or more attempts.
*Monte’ Morris had three steals. He has eight steals in the last two games.
*ISU made 10-of-19 shots from 3-point range, the second time this season with 10 or more treys in a game.