FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Razorbacks freshman Daniel Gafford excited the Walton Arena crowd with end-to-end action late in Saturday's 72-54 victory over Vanderbilt.
On the defensive end, the 6-11 Gafford blocked a shot from Vanderbilt's Payton Willis, the former Fayetteville High standout.
C.J. Jones collected the rebound for Arkansas and found Darious Hall with an outlet pass near midcourt. Hall turned and spotted Gafford sprinting down court, hit him in stride and Gafford electrified the crowd with a vicious windmill dunk with 2:07 to play.
Fans quickly began chanting "We want more! We want more!"
At the first stoppage of play after Gafford's coast-to-coast work, senior forward Trey Thompson gave Gafford a playful shove to recognize the effort.
"I just went up and in my mind, I thought the guy behind me was going to jump at me, so I just was going to dunk it," Gafford said. "But then I saw a wide open lane so my eyes got big."
Teammate Daryl Macon laughed at Gafford's response, saying, "You could see it from half-court that he was going to try something."
Gafford finished with 16 points, 9 rebounds and a season-high 7 blocked shots, tied for 10th in a single game for the Razorbacks.
"He was everywhere. He was active," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "The beauty of it is he only played 24 minutes tonight. That tells you how efficient he was. His energy, it's contagious on our basketball team."
20 times 7
Daryl Macon's streak of 20-point games looked to be in jeopardy late in the first half.
Macon had two points with less than four minutes remaining in the first half. The senior, who was 2-of-8 shooting in the half, hit a layup and made a pair of free throws before intermission.
The Little Rock native had a big second half and finished with 21 points on 7-of-17 shooting, including 4 of 6 from three-point range.
"It's never on my mind," Macon said when asked about the streak. "It could end any night. I'm not the guy who is just going to go and chase points."
Macon extended his streak of 20-point games to seven, the longest for a Razorback in 24 years. Corliss Williamson scored 20 or more points in eight consecutive games during the 1993-1994 season.
Fastest 10
Vanderbilt guard Maxwell Evans figured he'd conduct a one-man fast break, as he dribbled a missed free throw from Daniel Gafford hurriedly down the floor and through the left side of the lane for a layup try. The shot came right back as Gafford made a block at the rim and Dustin Thomas rebounded for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Thomas rifled an outlet pass to Jaylen Barford, who whipped a high-speed, underhand pass to Daryl Macon, who was sprinting toward the rim. The entire sequence, from Gafford's missed free throw to Macon being fouled by Larry Austin, took 10 seconds. Macon hit the pair of free throws for a 28-21 Arkansas lead.
Five for five
Arkansas committed turnovers on each of its first five possessions as Vanderbilt built a 4-0 lead. Daniel Gafford sandwiched two turnovers around a pair from Arlando Cook, then Jaylen Barford had a bad pass on to the wing that went out of bounds to cap the lackluster stretch. The Hogs had eight turnovers in the first eight minutes and 10 at halftime.
First five
Arlando Cook joined the starting unit for the second time this year and the first since the Hogs' 80-66 loss at Texas A&M on Jan. 30. Cook committed two turnovers in the first 90 seconds and was subbed out at the 17:54 mark.
Jaylen Barford and Anton Beard have started all 25 games, while Daryl Macon made his 19th start and third in a row. Daniel Gafford made his 17th start, all in a row.
Gabe Osabuohien was the first off the bench for the second consecutive game.
Down, under
The loss by Vanderbilt assured the Commodores of a losing regular-season record. Vanderbilt has not posted a losing record since the 2013-2014 team under Kevin Stallings finished 15-16.
Saturday splash
The Razorbacks improved to 41-5 in Saturday games at Walton Arena under Mike Anderson. Arkansas is 12-0 in Saturday home games this season.
Tip-ins
• Arkansas forward Adrio Bailey had the flu and did not dress out.
• Five Vanderbilt players scored eight points each to lead the team.
• Fans booed as the officials stopped the game for about three minutes with 19:37 left on the first-half clock. The stoppage was to correct a clock error, which wound up changing the clock to 19:22.
• Vanderbilt had a streak of 35 consecutive made free throws end midway through the second half when Jeff Roberson misfired with 11:55 remaining. The Commodores made their final five free throws against Auburn on Feb. 3, went 16 for 16 in a victory over Georgia, and hit 14 in a row against the Hogs.
• Freshman Gabe Osabuohien hit a free throw at the 16:00 mark for his first point since scoring two in the Hogs' 88-63 victory over Troy on Dec. 16.
Sports on 02/11/2018