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Battle of the boards | Arkansas Democrat Gazette

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Battle of the boards | Arkansas Democrat Gazette


FAYETTEVILLE — Texas A&M is the SEC’s worst-shooting basketball team at 40.1% on the season. But the Aggies do a good job of getting their misses.

Going into their game against the University of Arkansas tonight at Walton Arena, the Aggies are averaging 18.8 offensive rebounds to lead the nation.

Among SEC teams, the Aggies’ overall plus-10 rebounding margin ranks second behind Florida’s plus-10.9.

The Gators’ margin was helped in their 90-68 victory over Arkansas (9-7, 0-3) last Saturday when they won the rebounding battle 48-31.

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When Texas A&M (10-6, 1-3) beat No. 8 Kentucky 97-92 in overtime at home last Saturday, the Aggies outrebounded the Wildcats 54-46 and had 25 offensive rebounds.

“It’s discouraging that we didn’t rebound,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said on the Razorback Sports Network postgame radio show about Florida having 15 offensive rebounds. “We know Texas A&M is a phenomenal rebounding team.”

Aggies 6-7 senior Andersson Garcia plays off the bench, but he’s averaging 8.6 rebounds to lead the SEC. Nearly half of his rebounds — 4.2 per game — are on the offensive end.

Henry Coleman, a 6-8 senior in his third season at Texas A&M after transferring from Duke, is averaging 8.0 rebounds, including 3.1 offensive.

Aggies 6-5 junior guard Tyrece Radford is averaging 2.6 offensive rebounds among his total of 5.5.

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By contrast, 6-10 sophomore Trevon Brazile is averaging 2.0 offensive rebounds to lead Arkansas.

“Radford is probably the No. 1 offensive rebounding guard in the entire country,” Musselman said on a video posted on Arkansas’ website.

Texas A&M is rebounding 44.7% of its missed shots to lead the SEC. Arkansas is rebounding 26.6% of its misses to rank last in the conference.

Six Aggies had at least five rebounds against Kentucky led by Radford (9 total and 5 offensive), 6-7 sophomore Solomon Washington (9 and 4), Garcia (8 and 4) and 6-10 senior Wildens Leveque (7 and 5).

Washington missed the previous two games — which Texas A&M lost to LSU and at No. 13 Auburn — with an undisclosed injury.

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Junior guard Wade Taylor led the Aggies with 31 points against Kentucky and Radford scored 28, but Texas A&M Coach Buzz Williams had special praise for Washington.

“I thought Solo was probably the player of the game,” Williams said. “You can for sure have an argument that Solo is our best defender.

“I would say that’s what he cares the most about. He’s a strong athlete with size who can guard whoever you want him to guard, and he has a distinct presence on the glass on both ends of the floor.

“I thought his energy was tremendous.”

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Radford agreed.

“[Washington’s] energy is everything,” Radford said. “It’s just that spark that we need, and I can say with that he leads the team.

“He’s bringing that energy day in and day out. … You don’t need a specific time for him to bring it, he just brings it. That’s the elite part of his game.”

Arkansas freshman guard Layden Blocker and sophomore guard Joseph Pinion brought some energy off the bench at Florida, scoring season-highs of 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Pinion hit 2 of 4 three-pointers, a huge lift from the perimeter considering Arkansas is 15 of 60 from beyond the arc in SEC games.

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“Joseph Pinion gave us great energy,” Musselman said in the video posted by Arkansas. “He stretched the floor for us from three.”

Blocker hit 4 of 7 shots and 6 of 10 free throws and had 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist.

“Layden Blocker had a great overall game on both sides of the ball,” Musselman said in the Arkansas video. “He brought great, great energy and played with enthusiasm.

“So both those two guys [are] coming off really good games, and somehow we’ve got to figure out a way to get them involved in this game on Tuesday night as well.”

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The Razorbacks have started poorly in SEC play the previous three years at 2-4 in 2021, 0-3 in 2022 and 1-5 in 2023. But they finished 13-4, 13-5 and 8-10 and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight in 2021 and 2022 and to the Sweet 16 last season.

“Of course, we all think we have a chance to turn this thing around,” Blocker said after the Florida game. “Coach tells us every day we’re not playing at our best, but we still have a chance to be great if we go to March and make something happen.

“We’ve got to keep getting better day by day.”

Arkansas has to win tonight to avoid its first 0-4 SEC start since 2009, when the Razorbacks finished 2-14.

“This group does not have the characteristics of our past four years,” Musselman said after the Florida game. “I mean, you can see that. We have a lot of holes in a lot of different areas.

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“So our job as a staff will be to continue to do what we can, try to provide teaching points, to try to continue to give scouting reports that are effective.

“That’s what we’re supposed to do, is continue to try to get guys better and get the collective whole better.”

Of all the issues the Razorbacks are trying to fix, limiting Texas A&M’s offensive rebounds figures to be the biggest key tonight.



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Arkansas

Homicide suspect causes barricade situation in east Arkansas jail

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Homicide suspect causes barricade situation in east Arkansas jail


PHILLIPS COUNTY, Ark. — A suspect in a Helena-West Helena homicide caused a barricade situation Tuesday as he was being processed in the Phillips County Detention Center.

Authorities said a prisoner who was being processed at the jail was able to get hold of some type of instrument and cause harm to himself.

He barricaded himself in the processing area and pepper spray was used to subdue him.

The prisoner was taken to the local emergency room for treatment. No one else was injured.  

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Helena-West Helena Police Chief Vincent Bell said he doesn’t know much more about what happened at the jail, but said the inmate is connected to a fatal shooting Tuesday afternoon.

The suspect was being held in connection to an incident where a man was shot dead in the doorway of O’Reilly Auto Parts in West Helena.

The shooting was the result of a disagreement that started in front of a motel, and the victim ran to the front of O’Reilly’s where he was fatally shot.

Chief Bell offered no details on a motive or the name of the victim.

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Arkansas

VIDEO: Arkansas players press conference – Missouri week

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VIDEO: Arkansas players press conference – Missouri week


Arkansas QB Taylen Green, OL Addison Nichols, DT Cam Ball and DB Doneiko Slaughter, preview press conference ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the No. 24 Missouri Tigers at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri.

Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT and the game will air on SEC Network. Check out our homepage for more coverage of the Hogs.



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Hoop Hogs analytics update – 11/26

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Hoop Hogs analytics update – 11/26


The No. 19 Arkansas Razorbacks are currently 5-1 on the young season after a 109-35 win over Marland-Eastern Shore on Monday night.

According to KenPom, Arkansas jumped from 40th to 38th following the victory over the Hawks. The Razorbacks efficient defensive night pushed them to sixth in defensive efficiency, up four spots from 10th.

“Defensively, we’re one of the best teams in the country and we want to continue to hand our hats on how we are defensively,” Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman said postgame. “And a lot of stuff that we do defensively, it doesn’t matter who we play, because it’s our scheme. It’s our schematics and it works. As long as we’re in the right spots and we’re doing what we teach, it’ll work against anyone.”

The Razorbacks eclipsed the 100-point mark, shot 55.6% from the field and hit three-pointers at a 44.1% clip. As a result, Arkansas’ offensive metrics received a major boost.

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Freshman guard Boogie Fland was awarded team MVP from KenPom after the game. He had an offensive rating of 194.0 and scored 16 points on 3-of-5 shooting which included two makes from deep.



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