Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

12/22/2010 at 10:30pm

Arkansas 67, Texas Southern 59

Why Arkansas Won
A strong second half helped lift short-handed Arkansas (8-2) past Texas Southern (2-8). Rotnei Clarke scored a team-high 22 points, while Glenn Bryant filled up the stat sheet and posed a problem for Texas Southern at both ends of the floor. Arkansas trailed at halftime, but used a second-half surge — including 61.9 percent shooting — to put the game away. The Razorbacks scored 23 points off of turnovers.

Turning Point
It looked like the game might go down to the wire after the first half. But Arkansas used a 14-1 run, including nine points from Rotnei Clarke, to put the game away.

Clarke, who finished with 22 points, hit a 3-pointer with 10:19 left that pushed the run to 9-0. That prompted a timeout from TSU and elicited arguably the loudest reaction from Razorbacks fans this season.

Texas Southern was never the same after that. Arkansas pushed its lead to 11 with 8:39 remaining.

Flying High
Teammates have come to appreciate Glenn Bryant’s leaping ability and athleticism. They see it daily in practice and whenever the team plays games.

But even they were impressed with Bryant’s effort on Wednesday. He had three spectacular alley-oop dunks and contributed in other ways.

Guard Rotnei Clarke said Bryant’s three alley-oop dunks were game-changers.

“Shoot, man. Seeing stuff like that, that’s crazy,” Clarke said. “We know how athletic he is, but those type of plays gets the fans going, it gets us going, everybody in the building. It’s huge for us. That gives you momentum.”

Bryant finished with 11 points, four rebounds and three steals. He was often the tallest player on the floor for Arkansas.

Benched
Marshawn Powell played just one minute against Texas Southern. He wasn’t injured.

“It was my decision,” coach John Pelphrey said of keeping Powell, an all-SEC freshman last year on the bench.

Powell did not join his teammates on the court to warm up at halftime. He was slow leaving the locker room and stood near the bench with his arms folded, while the Razorbacks shot in preparation for the second-half.

Rickey Scott did not play after starting against Texas A&M. He has been nursing a foot injury, Pelphrey said.

Drawing A Crowd
More than 12,000 tickets were sold for Wednesday’s game. An estimated crowd of 8,805 attended.

Is Texas Southern really that big a draw? No. But the Arkansas football team is.

Razorback players and coach Bobby Petrino signed autographs for an hour at Bud Walton concourse. Thousands lined the concourse, particularly at the tables where Petrino and quarterback Ryan Mallett were featured.

Friendly Reminder
Just in case Arkansas players didn’t know how much coach John Pelphrey wanted to win against Texas Southern, he sent them an additional reminder.

Players received text messages from Pelphrey, letting them know “how much he wanted to win,” forward Glenn Bryant said.

Pelphrey said he felt the team needed some encouragement after a tough overtime loss to Texas A&M on Saturday.

“I wanted this win for them so bad. I felt like they worked very, very hard prior to Christmas,” Pelphrey said.

Speaking Out
"This win is good for my kids. I won't be the grinch for Christmas."
—Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey

Speaking Out II
“Down the stretch we made some really poor decisions. We gave the game away. … I thought it was our game. We let it get away from us.”
—TSU Coach Tony Harvey

Up Next
Arkansas returns to the court in a week. The Razorbacks host North Carolina A&T on Dec. 29 at 7 p.m.

Tagged: Arkansas Razorbacks, John Pelphrey, Rotnei Clarke, Glenn Bryant