By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Responding to 39 points worth of 3s, listeners called the radio station with numerous monickers to hang on Arkansas’ Rotnei Clarke.
Some of the nicknames were clever. Some were a stretch. Some were old hat. Samples include “Radar, Hit Man, Sniper, Hot Rod, Mr. Nylon, The Long Ranger.”
Each was too narrow in scope.
Clarke is more than a player with a quick and accurate shot from 21-9 and beyond. Some of his best work against Louisville on Tuesday night were shots he didn’t take.
Like that moment early in the second half when Clarke went up to shoot from outside, saw Michael Washington moving toward the basket, and delivered the pass. Washington’s three-point play reduced the Louisville lead to 48-39.
Or that time inside the nine-minute mark when the game was out of hand and Clarke drove to the free throw line. Nobody would have raised an eyebrow if the sophomore, who scored 51 in Arkansas’ first game, had taken the shot. Instead, he unselfishlly dumped the ball to golfer Stephen Cox for something in close.
Clarke made mistakes — he had a shot blocked out front and lost the ball trying to go behind his back as the Louisville lead grew from 13 to 17 — but he kept competing. Playing shorthanded, that’s what the Razorbacks must do and, in that light, coach John Pelphrey had to like what he saw during the first 8-10 minutes of the second half.
A big underdog, Arkansas trailed by 17 at intermission and could have played out the string. Instead, the Razorbacks ran off 14 straight. It helped that Louisville missed 3s from everywhere and didn’t score for almost five minutes, but the Razorbacks converted the gifts. There also was a feeling that coach Rick Pitino would have called a halt to the long-range shooting and benched those fouling 30 feet from the basket if he thought his team was in serious danger.
When TV’s courtside reporter stopped Pitino for the obligatory halftime babble, he mentioned fatigue and how the Razorbacks were outnumbered. After the game, Pelphrey dismissed that factor by saying the only thing he can do is work with the players who are available.
Four of Arkansas’ starters played 33 minutes or more; no Cardinal played more than 27 minutes.
Freshman forward Glenn Bryant has completed his two-game suspension, but the Razorbacks will be shy at point guard until Courtney Fortson and-or Stefan Welsh return from indefinite suspensions, and there is no word on either one. Clearly, an inappropriate tweet is only one of the issues in Fortson’s case.
Pelphrey said Wednesday there is no change with either Fortson or Welch, that Welch is practicing and Fortson is not.
Playing the entire 40 minutes, freshman point guard Julysses Nobles did fine with seven assists and three turnovers. However, Louisville was far more interested in denying Clarke than doubling Nobles.
Every Arkansas opponent will identify Clarke as a target; some are more capable than others of doing something about him. For instance, Pitino spent Louisville’s shootaround hollering, “Where’s Clarke, Where’s Clarke.”
Clarke took only four shots in the first half, all of them pretty much manufactured and at least one that qualified as acrobatic. He finished with 16 points, including 3-of-7 from long range.
Five other Razorbacks were 0-of-6 on 3s. Louisville made 15-of-38.
Threes don’t come easy. UCLA made 5-of-29 in a double overtime loss to Cal State-Fullerton and Georgetown 46, Temple 45 reflects the fact that those teams combined for 6-of-41.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
