FAYETTEVILLE -- Friday night's game in Walton Arena was the first time Matt Figger faced the University of Arkansas as Austin Peay's coach, but he has plenty of experience against Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson's teams.
Figger had played Anderson's teams -- at Alabama-Birmingham, Missouri and Arkansas -- 19 times previously as an assistant coach at South Alabama, Kansas State and South Carolina.
Anderson's teams improved to 12-8 against Figger's teams with the Razorbacks' 76-65 victory over the Governors in Walton Arena.
Austin Peay (8-5) was in position to upset Arkansas and extend its winning streak to seven games when leading 52-48 with 11:06 left.
Then Arkansas (9-3) went on a 20-5 run in a 6:27 span -- with freshman guard Keyshawn Embery-Simpson scoring 12 points -- to move ahead 68-57.
"It was so fast, and it's such Arkansas basketball," Figger said. "The history of Mike Anderson, wherever he's been, they can put points on you in a hurry.
"I've had a taste of what their teams are about. You can switch people's names on the back, but all those guys look the same. When they come with those flurries of runs, it's different dudes, different nights."
Sophomore forward Daniel Gafford, sophomore guard Mason Jones and freshman guard Isaiah Joe have taken turns leading the Razorbacks in scoring.
Gafford and Jones each have done it four times, and Joe three times. They are among eight Razorbacks who have scored at least nine points in a game along with Embery-Simpson, sophomore guard Jalen Harris, junior forward Adrio Bailey, freshman forward Reggie Chaney and freshman guard Desi Sills.
"Coach Anderson's got a young team, and they're being tested every day in practice because he's got depth," Figger said. "He's always got depth.
"A lot of these young guys are stepping up and making shots in hard games."
Anderson has his youngest team in 17 seasons as a head coach with nine newcomers -- including seven freshmen -- and no seniors.
The 6-11 Gafford had 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots against Austin Peay, but Arkansas got 45 points from freshmen as Joe had 15, Embery-Simpson 14, Chaney 12 and guard Jordan Phillips 4.
Sills didn't score, but he had 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals.
"I thought our team got better," Anderson said. "[Freshmen] were out there with the game on the line, and they were making plays offensively and defensively and sharing the basketball. I thought it got really exciting there at the end.
"So to me the emphasis is the growth in our basketball team, and that's what's needed. This will be a totally different team by late January."
The Razorbacks' next game will be their SEC opener at Texas A&M.
"They're going to be fine," Figger said of the Razorbacks going into SEC play. "You've got a potential first-round draft pick in Daniel Gafford who can go out every night and get you double-doubles. And a kid like Joe. I know he's a freshman, but the kid's got an unbelievable jump shot."
Gafford is averaging 17.5 points and 9.3 rebounds. Joe is averaging 15.8 points and shooting 45.5 percent (46 of 101) on three-pointers.
Jones shot 1 of 10 against Austin Peay and scored a season-low two points, but he's averaging 13.4.
Harris has 80 assists compared to 14 turnovers and is averaging 9.0 points.
"We're definitely ready," Chaney, averaging 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds, said of the SEC schedule. "We're just going to get in the gym and work as hard as we can and try to buy in to what Coach says."
The Razorbacks had 21 assists against Austin Peay while shooting 43.5 percent (27 of 62) from the field. They had 11 turnovers.
"We're one of the nation's leaders in forcing turnovers," said Figger, whose team came into the game ranked 13th nationally in opponents' turnovers at 18.0 per game. "They took care of the ball, and that's a credit to their point guard and some of the stuff they do.
"They're so good at moving the ball. They're so unselfish. That's the one thing about [Anderson's] teams year in and year out that he doesn't get enough credit for -- how well they play offense.
"Everybody thinks it's maybe kind of just roll the ball out ... I don't know what people think, but I know this -- they move at a speed and a pace and they share the ball, and anytime you get a team that passes and cuts like they do, that's a credit to him."
Anderson said he's looking forward to having two-a-day practices this week with school not in session.
"There are some things we can add on, there are some things we can take out, and can get better at the things that we know are going to be our strengths," Anderson said. "With Daniel, how can we get the ball into him and move him around the floor? How can we get the tempo back up? We've got to do it with our defense, and it's got to be a mixture of defenses.
"Now we're turning our focus and getting ready for Texas A&M -- a very good basketball team, and one of their strengths is they rebound the basketball. So we've got to be able to address that."
Sports on 12/30/2018