And This Is How The Season Ended: Razorbacks Lose on The Road

Razorbacks Lose To Cal: 75-64

BERKELEY, Calf. – A late second half comeback by Arkansas came up short Monday night, as the Razorbacks couldn’t overcome a large first half deficit in a 75-64 loss at California in the NIT second round at Haas Pavilion.

Arkansas trailed by as many as 23 in the first half and 15 at halftime, but was able to cut the deficit to single digits, 63-55, with 4:01 to play before dropping its second game to the Golden Bears (21-13) this season.

The Razorbacks finish with the program’s first 20-win season since 2007-08, going 22-12 in their third year under head coach Mike Anderson. Arkansas’ NIT appearance was its third in program history and the first postseason appearance since the aforementioned 2007-08 campaign.

All-SEC second team choice Bobby Portis ended his rookie campaign with his second straight double-double, finishing with 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Rashad Madden led the way with 15 points while adding five rebounds, five assists and two steals. The final double figure scorer came off the bench as redshirt junior Alandise Harris went for 12 points and seven rebounds.

Cal shot 55 percent (26-47) for the game and was led by 19 points and eight rebounds from freshman Jabari Bird. On the flipside, the Golden Bears limited Arkansas to just 32 percent (25-78) from the field, helping them overcome 16 turnovers compared to just five by the Razorbacks.

POST-GAME QUOTES:

Arkansas Head Coach Mike Anderson

On The Game

“As we sit here today, we are probably a bit disappointed in the outcome of this game but it wasn’t because of a lack of effort on our part. I have to give Mike Montgomery and his California team a lot of credit. What time is it anyways, about one o’clock? It is one o’clock my bayou time. I think that made a big difference with our guys, but we got off to a slow start. We didn’t shoot the ball well, when you go 5-for-31. We had some point-blank shots that we normally make then all of the sudden you dig a hole for yourself, but we were able to cut it back in the second half. We had a group out there that really got things going for us. They cut it to eight as a matter of fact, with an opportunity to cut it even further. It seemed like every time we had some momentum somehow the whistle blew and there they to go to the free throw line. So it just wasn’t the Razorback’s night tonight and you have to give Cal some credit. They held us here at home.”

On Montgomery playing zone the entire 40 minutes

“I think he stayed in it once we didn’t really do a good job of attacking. The second half we did a much better job, so if we did that in the first half we would’ve made him change his defense. Because then we started attacking the glass, getting rebounds and getting second and third shots.”

California Head Coach Mike Montgomery 

On the game

“We’re thin. We’ve got some people down. We looked back at the film from Hawaii and we had quite a bit of success with the zone. We actually worked for three days on recovering back zone, covering the zone and trying to get the high post. They had 79 shots to our 47 so thank goodness that they didn’t make a lot of them. Seventeen offensive rebounds is a product of the zone and we’re not very big in the zone irhgt now. We tried to challenge the guard to go get rebounds. Jabari [Bird] did a really good job rebounding the ball. They run a lot of motion. It’s an equal opportunity offense; a lot of screens that we could potentially get in foul trouble. With the subs that we had and the people we had coming off the bench, we could get in trouble in a man situation. I think that proved the be the case.”

On the first half

“We came out really moving the ball. I think that was nice to see. The ball was really moving. They really rely on their pressure. They want to turn you over. They want to get turnovers for baskets. We fell prey a little bit. We had too many turnovers, but by and large we moved the ball. Playing small probably helps that. Having Ricky and Jeff in there gave us an additional ball handler. Jumping off to a lead like that was critical. I felt like we should have taken 20 plus into the locker room at halftime. We had a little bit of concern that they got it back to 15. The first five minutes of the second half were critical. We jumped back on them, got it up to 20, and it made it really difficult for them.  Bell who had 28 last time, I think he must be a little streaky because he was 1-10. They don’t have a lot of guys that are pure shooters if you look at their percentages. I think their percentages are good from three. I felt Tyrone [Wallace] did a really nice job taking away the high post and trying to match with their guards. We tried to work with Jabari [Bird] and Jordan [Mathews] to not watch the ball but to find somebody and they did a good job with that.”

On the offensive output

“I thought he [Cobbs] did a good job, particularly early on I thought he really distributed the ball. He made some really nice plays to get his teammates involved. We shared the responsibility. Jabari dribbled it up some and Ty dribbled it up some. I thought Sam was really good. Sam’s going to be a really nice player. He has a really nice feel for the game. He had five assists. He gains his confidence shooting the ball. He really moves the ball. We had a lot of people contributing with that. It was a really good team effort. We had a number of different people playing key roles at different times.”

Tyrone Wallace, So. G

On the zone

“We knew we were going to start off in the zone because last time we played the zone it really hurt them. So that’s what we did. As the game went on it really hurt them. So that’s what we did.”

On the pressure

“I think it was kind of fun to play against. We expected it coming in. I think we handled it pretty well for the most part. It wasn’t anything we were surprised with. We knew what they were going to do coming into the game.”

On the pressure

“We just had to take advantage of it. They weren’t making perimeter shots. We had to rebound and get out and we took advantage of it and that’s why we got the big lead in the first half.”

On the NIT

“It’s exciting. We weren’t able to get into the big dance but we’re here and we’re ready to play. Hopefully we keep winning and get to New York.”

On Arkansas

“I think they have a lot of young talent and some good core pieces. They definitely have talent right now. If they keep working they’ll be a great team.”

Jabari Bird, Fr. G

On the game

“We knew they were going to pressure us and try to force some turnovers. We just had to stay calm and composed. We were able to run the offense through Justin [Cobbs] and get the ball across and get the offense going.”

On this recent success

“I’ve been practicing well. I’ve been going harder. I’m paying attention and focusing on the little things. Tonight I tried to get rebound and it got me going.”

On his maturation

“I’m still a freshman. I’m just playing with more confidence right now and I’m starting to feel more like myself like I was before the injury.”

Quick Hits
➢ First game in the state of California since 1973
➢ Met California for the second time this season after just once over the program’s first 90 years.
➢ Now 5-4 all-time in the NIT in three appearances.
➢ Arkansas’ 22 wins is its most since 2007-08.
➢ The Razorbacks at 80.1 points per game, good for the best average since 1997-98.
➢ Hit a three-pointer in all 34 games, extending streak to 838 games.
➢ Three players in double figures put the season total at 120.
➢ Cal is just the fifth team to finish with a positive assist/turnover ratio against Arkansas this
season.
➢ Arkansas committed a season-low five turnovers.
➢ Madden led the team in scoring 11 times and had a team-high 25 double figure games.
➢ Madden and Bell tied for the team lead with 50 threes on the season.
➢ Madden ends the year with double figure points in five straight games.
➢ Portis finishes with a team-best five double-doubles.
➢ Portis led the team in rebounding 16 times.
➢ Portis 23 double figure outings featured four straight to end the year.
➢ Portis finishes with a team-high 54 blocks while fellow freshman Moses Kingsley is second with 49.
➢ Harris double figure game was his 10th off the bench and 12th overall.
➢ Harris’ seven rebounds equaled a season-high.
➢ Senior Fred Gulley III played his final 151 minutes as a Razorback without a turnover.
➢ Gulley’s dunk in the first half was No. 1 on the #SCtop10 and Arkansas’ 11th #SCtop10 play of the
year.
➢ Haydar hit a three for the 17th time which was his 27th of the season.