FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas forwards Marshawn Powell and Marvell Waithe usually are matched against each other in practice, but Sunday they teamed up for 66 points to the lead the White team to a 112-79 victory over the Red team in the Razorbacks’ intrasquad game before an announced crowd of 3,300 at Walton Arena.
Powell, a 6-7 junior who was slowed by a foot injury last season, had 35 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Waithe, a 6-9 senior, had 31 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.
“If we can have that Marshawn for the whole year, then I think he gives us a guy that people are really, really going to have to zero in on,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. “Then that lets other guys have an opportunity to shine.”
Waithe also shined Sunday, somewhat surprisingly, considering he averaged 4.0 points for the Razorbacks last season after transferring from Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College.
“We know Marvell’s not going to score 30 every night, but the thing I liked is that he was pretty active out there,” Anderson said. “He was blocking shots, he was rebounding. He was playing hard.”
Waithe didn’t want to get carried away with a scrimmage performance.
“It’s the Red-White game, so it would feel better if it’s an actual game,” he said. “But it’s all right.
“I’m just trying to focus on practice and getting better every day.”
The Razorbacks have gone through two weeks of practice under Anderson, who was hired from Missouri last spring after John Pelphrey’s firing.
Powell said practice under Anderson has been “a lot harder” and “a lot to take in real quick.”
Waithe said there’s more purpose now to what the Razorbacks do in practice.
“Last year I’d be in practice sometimes and be like ‘Why are we doing this?’” Waithe said. “But this year when we practice, everything we do is for a purpose.
“We go long, but it seems like it gets by so fast because everything we’re doing is for a real purpose.”
Powell said it feels good to play at 219 pounds after he weighed in the 250-pound range last season.
“I can run, man,” Powell said. “I can get up and down and not get tired, and it shows.”
Junior point guard Julysses Nobles also played well for the White team with 15 points, 12 assists and 6 rebounds with 2 turnovers in 38 minutes.
“He’s going to play like this now in this system,” Powell said. “He’s our floor general for sure.”
Sophomore guard Mardracus Wade had 19 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds for the White team while freshman guard Ky Madden added 10 points and 5 assists.
Freshman forward Devonta Abron led the Red team with with 26 points, and had 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, but also 5 turnovers.
“I thought he had some bad turnovers trying to do too much,” Anderson said. “Sometimes that happens when your fatigue creeps in.
“But I thought he was a force. If you get it down there, he can make something good happen.”
Freshman guard BJ Young had 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists for the Red team, but he had six turnovers. Freshman forward Hunter Mickelson added 14 points and 9 rebounds, but had 5 turnovers. Sophomore guard Rickey Scott had 10 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds.
The White team had 11 turnovers while the Red team finished with 24, including 10 in the first 10 minutes to help the Red team build a 28-13 lead.
“It kind of set the tone,” Anderson said.
The Razorbacks play their exhibition opener against Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday night.
“I think that they’re picking up things at an OK pace,” Anderson said. “But we’re going to really start pushing the pace even more so we can know exactly what we’re doing, when we’re doing it and how we’re doing it.”
Sports, Pages 13 on 10/31/2011