COLUMBIA, Mo. — Although his scoring has been low the last two games, Bobby Portis has continued to produce for Arkansas.
The sophomore had 12 points and 10 rebounds in the Razorbacks’ 61-60 win at Missouri Saturday afternoon, giving him his fifth straight double-double. It was also his seventh in the last nine games.
Coming into the week, Portis was averaging 23.3 points, causing Alabama and Missouri to zero-in on him.
“We went into the game with the idea to stop Portis, at least help out on him,” Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. “Consequently, we sagged in on him.”
However, the Tigers had to loosen up a little because of the game 6-foot-6 Alandise Harris had.
“A lot of people come at Bobby and they’re putting a lot of bodies on him,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “But when you have Alandise out there, it takes some of that away from Bobby and it gives Bobby room to do the things that he’s doing for us.”
Harris finished with a team-high 14 points.
Portis’ 10-point, 12-rebound performance makes him the first player in UA history with five straight double-doubles in regular-season SEC play.
(According to HogStats.com, Derek Hood had six straight double-doubles against SEC teams in 1999, but three came in the SEC Tournament.)
He has seven double-doubles this season, but he was one rebound shy of four more.
In conference play, Portis is averaging 19.2 points and 10 rebounds.