By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long lent his support to coach John Pelphrey on Monday, one day after the Razorbacks dropped their third straight nonconference game in Bud Walton Arena.
Long, who attended Sunday’s 74-61 loss to South Alabama, said he knows the direction he wants Pelphrey to lead the program. Despite the mounting losses and growing frustration from fans, he believes Pelphrey is “doing those things” and has no plans to make a change at the top this season.
“John Pelphrey is our basketball coach,” Long said. “He’s going to be our basketball coach. He’s going to lead our program for the future, absolutely.”
Long acknowledged the Razorbacks are stuck in what he called a “difficult stretch.” It may just go down as one of the worst at home in school history.
Arkansas has lost three straight to mid-major programs Morgan State, East Tennessee State and South Alabama. The Hogs (2-4) have lost three consecutive nonconference games only two times in school history. The first came in 1955-56.
But Long said the Razorbacks understood there would be struggles because of the suspensions and injuries that left Arkansas playing short-handed.
“We’re undermanned right now,” Long said. “We haven’t had a chance to play together as a team for any extended period of time. We are a young team.
“They do need to play together. Unfortunately, because of some of the decisions the young men have made off the court, we haven’t had a chance to do that. Until we have a chance to get everybody together, whether it’s back from disciplinary issues or injuries, it will be difficult and it will be a struggle for us. But I think our team is committed to working hard and working through these things.”
Arkansas faces its first true road test on Wednesday night at Oklahoma. The Razorbacks might be without senior center Michael Washington, who Pelphrey said is day-to-ay because of a sprained back he sustained before the South Alabama game.
But the road might be a welcome change for Arkansas, which has struggled in front of sparse home crowds. The Razorbacks drew their biggest crowd in the opener, when 7,713 watched the Alcorn State win. Sunday’s attendance was 5,187.
Long acknowledged the drop, but encouraged fans to support the team through the frustrating stretch.
“I want them to come out,” Long said. “I want them to follow the team. It’s important. This is a time for our fans to rally behind our team and support our team and support our coaches. …
“We’re young. We haven’t had a chance to be together and grow as a team. We’re going to do that, but we need our fans to come out and support us.
It’s easy to sit back and criticize, but we need them to come out and support us.”
Arkansas has now lost 19 of its past 23 games dating back to last season. The Razorbacks are off to its worst start since 2002-03, which was former coach Stan Heath’s first season with the program.
Pelphrey said his biggest task through the tumultuous time is to keep pushing the Razorbacks.
“I’m here to lead these young men. Anybody can lead when things are great,” Pelphrey said Monday. “We all want to be leaders when things are sunny, but when the clouds roll in and the wind kicks up, that’s probably the true test of one’s character.
“Hopefully I will be able to lead them in a way that is positive.”
Long was asked if he still had confidence in Pelphrey as Arkansas’ coach and responded by saying, “the same I had three months ago, six months ago.”
“We’ve been through the reasons why we’re in this stretch,” Long said. “We don’t need to rehash those.
“But it’s going to be awhile for our team to come together as a team and for us to see the kind of success we expect out of our program.”
