FAYETTEVILLE -- During the exhibition season, Arkansas Razorbacks senior guard Daryl Macon kept saying Daniel Gafford had shown glimpses of what he could do.
"I'm still waiting on Daniel to show y'all Daniel," Macon said. "You all haven't seen Daniel yet for real."
It got pretty real for Gafford on Friday night in Walton Arena.
The 6-11 freshman from El Dorado had 25 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocked shots and 2 steals to help the Razorbacks beat Fresno State 83-75 before an announced crowd of 12,227.
"He needs to go to the NBA right now," Fresno State Coach Rodney Terry said. "I really liked him on tape, watching him play his previous games.
"He's just a really good, young talent that plays with a great motor. He's only going to get better and better. I think the sky's the limit for how good he's going to be.
"I went to one our assistants and said, 'That's a great in-state get for Arkansas.' He's going to do some great things here. I was just hoping he wouldn't do it tonight. He looked like an NBA guy right off the bat."
Gafford hit 9 of 11 shots and 7 of 10 free throws, including 3 of 4 in the final 1:32 to help the Razorbacks (3-0) hold off the Bulldogs after Fresno State cut a 19-point deficit to 77-70 with 1:00 left on Jaron Hopkins' basket.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville rebuilt its lead to 81-70 on two free throws by senior guard Anton Beard and a dunk by sophomore forward Adrio Bailey.
Gafford came into the game at the 17:50 mark of the first half when senior forward Trey Thompson picked up his second foul.
"Trey got in foul trouble, so there comes Daniel," Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. "He got in there right off the bat, and I thought that got him into the flow of the game.
"I think guys did a really good job of finding him, and he did a good job of finishing off plays and getting to the free-throw line."
Gafford played 30 minutes after he fouled out of Arkansas' first two games against Samford and Bucknell and was limited to a combined 33 minutes.
"He's been foul prone, and our game plan was to try to come in and be physical with him," Terry said. "Early on we didn't have that physicality with him, and we let him get off to a good start. Just like any young player, he's going to continue to get confident, and he had a great night."
Gafford showed his abilities on both ends of the court in a scintillating 15-second span in the second half when he dunked an alley-oop pass from Beard to put the Razorbacks ahead 66-47 with 6:30 left, then swatted a shot by Deshon Taylor out of bounds.
"I thought that was beautiful basketball," Anderson said. "It was seeing a guy just being instinctive, and guys trusting him.
"Daniel's strength is, for a guy that size he runs like a guard. He's one of the most athletic big guys we've had here.
"I think he's growing each and every day. He's like a sponge. He wants to be a great player, and we saw some glimpses of his athletic ability, especially in the open floor."
Gafford said the dunk and block on back-to-back plays reminded him of his days starring at El Dorado.
"It was a good sequence," Gafford said. "In high school, I used to do that all the time.
"I'd get a lob from our guards and then I'd go down and block a shot instantly, and this happened just like that. So it felt good."
Arkansas senior guard Jaylen Barford had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Beard had 15 points and Macon 11.
Sophomore forward Bryson Williams led Fresno State (2-1) with 22 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Taylor scored 19 points.
Gafford had six dunks.
"I think he did a great job," Barford said. "He just got dunk after dunk it seemed like. They just couldn't contain him."
Fresno State made 28 of 61 shots and Arkansas 27 of 56, but the Razorbacks hit 25 of 38 free throws to 13 of 22 by the Bulldogs.
"Getting to the free-throw line made a big, big difference," Anderson said. "We didn't shoot them great, but we shot them well enough to survive."
Gafford has hit 14 of 20 free throws this season.
"I've been working on that a lot," he said. "There was a time when I used to miss almost all my free throws. That's not what we needed. So I've stayed in the gym a lot to shoot."
Fresno State jumped out to a 6-0 lead.
The Razorbacks outscored the Bulldogs 29-8 over the next 11:31 -- with Barford scoring 11 points -- to take a 29-14 lead with 5:27 left in the first half.
"In the first half, we started off a little slow," Anderson said. "But once we settled in, I thought our defense really kicked in."
Arkansas was ahead 39-25 at halftime. Fresno State didn't pull closer than six points in the second half.
Gafford was able to play extended minutes because he limited his fouls to three.
"I feel way more comfortable because I'm playing smarter," Gafford said. "When I was fouling out the first two games, it just clicked in my mind I've got to be better at defense."
Sports on 11/18/2017