RECAP: Bench Sparks Blowout Over Colorado State

Poor shooting, lack of rebounding, all around low energy. All the things that sunk the Hogs against the Houston showed up at the start against Colorado State.

Then Daniel Gafford and CJ Jones checked in.

At this point Arkansas was down 13-4 with 15:09 left in the first half. In less than five minutes Arkansas rallied off a 19-0 run and just like that everything had changed. 17 of the 19 points came from Gafford, Jones, and Darious Hall. They were also active on defense, forcing turnovers and blocking shots.

That energy was infectious, and once the starting unit came back in they were playing much better as well. The Hogs ended the half on a 12-1 run that was led by Jaylen Barford and the Hogs were up 18 at the half.

The second half was more of the same, if Prentiss Nixon wasn’t scoring then nothing was happening for the Rams. He finished with 31 but the rest of the team finished shooting 11/39 from the field. The Hogs forced 19 turnovers in the game and won going away, leading by as much as 29 at one point.

After a slow start, Barford finished with 19 points and five rebounds. CJ Jones matched his career high with 19 as well. Gafford was the third Razorback to hit double figures with 14 and six rebounds. The Hogs bench was the catalyst for all things tonight, they had 47 points in this one, including some good minutes from Hall.

Now the Hogs are at 6-2 with their biggest home non conference game coming up next. The Razorbacks get a good Minnesota team and a chance to get back at them for a blowout loss last year at the other end of the home and home. If they can get the bench production in this game without the slow start, that would go a long way towards getting that win.