Hogwired.com: Defense Dominate as Hoop Hogs Handle Xavier-New Orleans
From the opening tip, Arkansas’ defense was in control as the Razorbacks cruised past Xavier-New Orleans, 82-49, in the first exhibition game of the season Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena.
Also:
- Hogwired.com: Game Stats (PDF), Post-game Quotes
- Ryan Malashock: Opening D-Light
- Grant Hall: Thomas Keeps Xavier Guessing
- Scott Cain: Sputtering UA gets up to speed
- Nate Allen: Monster mash
- Terry Wood: UA’s defense excels in exhibition game
Updated 11/1/06 7:10 a.m.
Went to the game last night not necessarily to see an exciting game but instead to see the new guys and how this team played together. I came away very impressed. Gary Ervin is definately unlike any point guard Stan has had. Understanding that this is his first real competition in over a year, I thought he looked real smooth. Patrick Beverly is going to be something else. Doesn't look like a freshman on the court. Extremely quick not only up and down the court but his latteral movement was amazing. Stefan Welsh was also very quick. Was in the passing lanes and was getting his hands on a lot of balls. McCurdy came to play and looked very good. He has a way to get down in the lane and get up in the air and maneuver his body in a way to get shots off over taller competition. Not only did he get the shots off but he made them. He had the lone three point shot and his stroke from behind the arc is a thing of beauty. Perfect form. The big men looked pretty solid with Thomas being very active and going to the hole with the ball. Vincent Hunter was everywhere. He got rebounds, knocked down ball, got steals, and on and on. Not a big night for him in any category but he was just in the middle of the action when he was on the court. I still wish Hill would dunk more, if for no other reason than to just send the message to the opponents that I will take your head off. Townes is solid offensively. If he will have a good attitude and work hard he could be gone after this year. Washington and McGowen look like solid subs for the big men. You can see that Washington could be very good but he is still feeling his way around the court.
I am not worried about the lack of three point shooting at this point in the season. It was obvious this was the first college game for some of these guys and you could also see that they had some tired legs from the first week of practice. I will say that the defense was something that I have not seen here in a while. Very quick as a team and more importantly we were moving where we were supposed to and helping each other out. It sure looks like something is brewing in Bud Walton.