Hogs brace for 3 games in 5 days

— Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said the Razorbacks are gearing up for “a pro week” with three games over a fiveday span.

The Razorbacks, who opened the season with a 75-52 victory over Grambling State on Thursday night, play Florida Gulf Coast on Monday night, Southeast Missouri State on Wednesday night and Alabama-Birmingham on Friday night.

The Florida Gulf Coast and Southeast Missouri State games are at Walton Arena, while the matchup with Alabama-Birmingham will be played at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

“These guys talk about wanting to play at the next level and earn money doing this,” Pelphrey said, in reference to this week reflecting an NBA team’s schedule. “Now they’re going to get a taste of what it’s really like.

“Take care of your body. Take care of your responsibilities during the day. ... Then our guys have got to be able to absorb [scouting reports] in a small period of time and go play.”

Junior guard Rotnei Clarke, who scored a game-high 20 points against GramblingState, said it will be a challenging week.

“We’ve got to get our rest and make sure we have our legs,” Clarke said.

It should help the Razorbacks that Pelphrey used 11 players between 29 and 11 minutes against Grambling.

“We’re going to continue to play a lot of folks, because we’re going to need them all,” Pelphrey said. “You never know when something might come up.”

Arkansas already has lost junior forward Michael Sanchez for an expected six weeks because of a stressfracture in his left foot.

Sophomore forward Marshawn Powell (foot) and junior guard Jeff Peterson (hamstring) have been limited in practice as they recover from injuries, but both played off the bench against Grambling State.

Powell had 7 points and 5 rebounds in 15 minutes, and he appeared to be limping at times on his left foot - which he broke in early August. He played five minutes in the second half.

“He stung [the foot] there a little bit in the first half, but he’s OK,” Pelphrey said. “He’s making progress.

“Certainly in the second half I didn’t see any reason to push Marshawn.”

Pelphrey added that Powell “ran around great” in practices leading up to the Grambling State game.

“He’s not 100 percent, he’s probably somewhere around 80,” Pelphrey said. “But he’s been practicing very well.”

Senior forward Delvon Johnson came out of the game in the second half and it appeared he might have hurt his left ankle, but Pelphrey said it was a cramp and that Johnson should be ready play on Monday night.

Pelphrey said Johnson injured his right ankle in Wednesday’s practice andthat he spent all night in Walton Arena so he could get treatment every two hours from trainer Dave England.

Johnson started against Grambling State and had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.

“That’s very inspiring,” Pelphrey said of Johnson’s play after he had to be carried off the court a day earlier. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for that, and I don’t know if we could have performed as well as we did in the game without him.”

Sanchez had recovered from plantar fasciitis in both feet that sidelined him for all but four games last season before a stress fracture was discovered earlier this week.

“I really feel for him, just because I know the things he went through last year with being injured,” Clarke said. “I know how hard he works in practice and how much energy he brings every single day.

“He’s a great teammate, so it’s tough.”

Pelphrey said ideally the Razorbacks would not be playing three games in five days.

“Scheduling is always hard,” he said. “Sometimes you’re trying to shove a square peg in a round hole, especially early on here.”

Sports, Pages 30 on 11/21/2010

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