FAYETTEVILLE -- Most talent evaluators three years ago would have tabbed Moses Kingsley the better athlete and Bobby Portis the more polished basketball player.
Portis' polish glistens now that last season's SEC Player of the Year is accelerating his game to NBA standards and playing more minutes for the Chicago Bulls.
But for a guy growing up playing soccer in Nigeria -- compared with Portis growing up playing AAU and elementary through Hall High School basketball in Little Rock -- Kingsley now produces a polish that shines like Portis' Arkansas prime. After serving as Portis' understudy for two seasons, Kingsley's 2015-16 stats as a first-season regular starter rival Portis' All-American stats from last season.
Starting every game for those 27-9 Razorbacks of 2014-2015, Portis averaged 17.5 points and 8.9 rebounds.
Starting every game for these 9-7 Razorbacks, now 3-1 in the SEC going into tonight's game at LSU, Kingsley averages 17.3 points and 9.5 rebounds. Kingsley already has blocked just seven less shots, 43, than Portis blocked all of last season. He may surpass Portis in steals, 17 now to Portis' 39 total, and shoots a slightly better free-throw percentage, 82 of 110 for 74.5 percent to Portis' 115 of 156 for 73.7 percent last year.
Even acknowledging Kingsley's athletic superiority -- and that says a lot because Portis also is a good athlete -- what does Kingsley need to do to become Portis' equivalent or to surpass him?
"He's doing the things that he does well to help our team," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "His strength is probably being the back line on the defense, blocking shots, rebounding the ball, fixing things on defense. And he's worked extremely hard to put himself in position to score. He's scoring better around the basket."
Two years of practicing against Portis -- and now practicing against burly 6-9 sophomore forward Trey Thompson of Forrest City and 6-10 graduate-student transfer Willy Kouassi -- have made Kingsley better.
It betters Thompson and Kouassi, too, and it bettered Portis.
All those practices may have been the most beneficial to Kingsley because he had the most to learn.
"You could see in the first couple of years, things he was doing were kind of mechanical," Anderson said. "Now I think they're becoming more instinctive because of the repetitions he's had going against a Bobby and Trey every day."
Kingsley learned in Portis' shadow but blossoms now because he's no longer cast in the shade.
"More importantly, he's getting the opportunity to play," Anderson said. "I think when you get the chance to do the reps in practice and then take it to the game and have success, then your confidence soars."
Especially when it elevates the confidence of teammates.
Teammates always respect one of their own finding success. Among Anderson's 10-fold rotation of resilient Razorbacks who have all paid their dues, Moses Kingsley stands tall in the center of it all.
Sports on 01/16/2016