FAYETTEVILLE -- It has taken 11 games for University of Arkansas sophomore forward Gabe Osabuohien to surpass his team-leading eight charges taken in 20 games last season.
Osabuohien took two charges in the Razorbacks' 73-70 victory over Texas State on Saturday in Walton Arena to raise his total to nine. He drew a charge from Mason Harrell with 31 seconds remaining in the first half, then drew one from Tre Nottingham with 3:59 left in the game.
"We might as well call him 'Charge-taking Gabe', because that's what he does every time he comes into the game," Arkansas forward Daniel Gafford said. "His main mindset is on defense."
Osabuohien and freshman guard Isaiah Joe came into Saturday's game tied for the team lead in charges taken with seven each.
Last season, Osabuohien took eight charges in 136 minutes. This season he has played 127 minutes.
"Those are momentum plays," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said of Osabuohien's ability to take charges. "Not only does [the opposing player] get a foul, but it's a turnover as well, and we get the opportunity to get the basketball.
"It stops [an opponent's] momentum. They had momentum going. It tells you about him. He sacrifices his body for the team.
"I think it injects energy into our basketball team when a guy does that. Hopefully, we're going to continue to have more guys that do that."
In addition to taking the 2 charges, Osabuohien had 4 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 22 minutes. He even hit his second career three-point basket after coming into the game 1 of 12 from beyond the arc, including 1 of 8 this season.
"Everything Gabe does is just good for the team," Arkansas sophomore guard Mason Jones said. "Just all the effort plays that aren't going to show up on the stat sheet."
Chaney starts
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson made his first change with the starting lineup this season when he inserted freshman forward Reggie Chaney for junior Adrio Bailey on Saturday.
The move didn't come as a surprise considering Bailey was 1 of 13 from the field in the previous 3 games and Chaney had been playing well off the bench.
Chaney had 7 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, but also 5 turnovers in 12 minutes. He had four turnovers in the first half.
"I thought Reggie started off a little nervous," Anderson said. "You expect that from a freshman in his first start."
Bailey, who started the second half in Chaney's place, had 3 rebounds, but 2 turnovers in 11 minutes. He shot 0 of 3 from the field -- including a missed dunk -- to fall to 1 of 16 the past 4 games.
Macon back
Daryl Macon, an All-SEC guard for Arkansas as a senior last season, was back in Walton Arena to attend Saturday's game and led the crowd in a Hog call during a second-half timeout.
Macon, a former Little Rock Parkview standout, is playing in the Dallas Mavericks organization.
In 20 games this season for the Texas Legends -- the Mavericks' G League team in Frisco -- Macon is averaging 21.5 points, 6.7 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 36.1 minutes. He also has played one minute in a game for the Mavericks.
Macon traveled from Fayetteville on Saturday after playing in the G League Showcase in Las Vegas, where he had 16 points and 10 assists in a 111-102 loss Friday night to Raptors 905.
"All these guys are just like his brothers and it was good to have him here," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "Seems like he's having a pretty good year so far.
"I just saw him on TV last night playing in Vegas, For him to take time to come back here, I think that says a lot about Daryl and a lot about the Razorback basketball family."
Free-throw difference
Arkansas outscored Texas State by 20 points at the free-throw line.
The Razorbacks hit 28 of 40 free throws, while the Bobcats were 8 of 21 for a season-low 46.2 percent.
Texas State came into the game shooting 73.0 percent on free throws (165 of 226) for the season.
"Maybe that was due to the fatigue because Arkansas puts so much pressure on you, and you've got to be on your toes," Bobcats Coach Danny Kaspar said of his team's free-throw struggles. "We had some tired dudes out there today."
It was a huge turnaround on the line for the Razorbacks, who hit 7 of 9 free throws in their 69-65 loss to Georgia Tech on Wednesday night.
"Why such a big difference?" Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. " I think we played inside-out. We started inside and kept attacking and attacking and got to the free-throw line and we made shots."
Joe's all-around game
Arkansas freshman guard Isaiah Joe shot 1 of 6 from the field -- the first time he's had fewer than three baskets in a game -- but he found other ways to help the Razorbacks win.
Joe hit 7 of 8 free throws, including 3 of 4 in the final 22 seconds, and had 3 rebounds and 3 steals without a turnover in 30 minutes.
Not good enough
Texas State Coach Danny Kaspar lamented the fact that his top three scorers -- Nijal Pearson, Tre Nottingham and Alex Peacock -- shot a combined 13 of 41 from the field.
"That's just not going to cut it," Kaspar said. "We've got to have our main people shoot better than that."
It was an especially tough game for Peacock who was 1 of 9 from the field and finished with 3 points.
Vs. SEC
Texas State fell to 0-10 against teams currently in the SEC, including 0-4 against Arkansas.
The Bobcats are 0-3 against Missouri and 0-1 against Kentucky, LSU and Ole Miss.
Saturday marked Texas State's first game against an SEC team since Arkansas beat the Bobcats 73-67 on Dec. 6, 2005.
Sports on 12/23/2018