By Harry King
NORTH LITTLE ROCK—For more than 30 minutes, the when and if of an individual was upstaged by the try of a team Wednesday night.
The scuttlebutt was that point guard Courtney Fortson would play after missing Arkansas’ first 12 games and I wondered how many in the crowd of 11,162 had heard and believed. By the time the second half began, Fortson’s status had taken a back seat to how the Razorbacks would fare against once-beaten Baylor.
For the record, the early word on Fortson’s absence was that not all parties involved had signed off on some necessary paperwork. Who knows? Fortson may never return.
Enough of the negative and the unsettled issues. The focus should be on the positive manner in which the Razorbacks competed for more than 30 minutes. They hustled from one end to the other, contesting most shots after giving up some easy 3s to LaceDarius Dunn in the opening minutes.
They made mistakes, but all is forgiven if effort is ever-present.
Checking out the Arkansas bench an hour before tipoff, you figured no way the Razorbacks could hang with the Bears for long. Red warmup still zipped, 6-foot-9 Michael Washington watched as his teammates loosened up. To his right, 6-8 Michael Sanchez had on a shirt with a black stripe that matched his slacks.
Baylor started a 7-footer and two 6-10 players, a height advantage that should have been an impossible mountain. Instead, Arkansas outrebounded the Bears by seven in the first half and trailed 34-31 only because Baylor made 5-of-9 from long range.
After Rotnei Clarke’s second 3 — somebody suggested he was so far outside that it was a backcourt violation — the Bears doubled their attention on Arkansas’ shooter without limits and he missed all three of his 3s in the second half.
His old-fashioned three-pointer cut the lead to 28-27 and Stephen Cox, fronting a much taller player, swiped a pass down low. Clarke missed and A.J. Walton, who played at Little Rock Hall, made his first of two 3s.
Baylor started the second half intent on exploiting its height advantage. Seven-foot Josh Lomers made an easy one and Dunn nailed his fourth 3 after a block by Ekpe Udoh. John Pelphrey called time after 47 seconds and some in the crowd responded when they noticed that Washington had removed his warmup. Before he got on the floor, Lomers was good again inside for 41-31.
Less than full speed because of a bad back, Washington was not much help. During the first half, he staked out a spot at the end of the bench, spending some time on his back, rocking to and fro, and some time standing and stretching. In the second half, he played nine minutes, missed two shots and two free throws, and fouled three times.
Marshawn Powell’s jumper at the 12:54 mark was only Arkansas’ second field goal of the second half in 11 attempts, but the Razorbacks were still in touch at 45-36.
Arkansas went to sleep and Quincy Acy negotiated the baseline for a catch and slam. Another block by Udoh — the Bears’ 11th in barely 30 minutes — led to an inside basket by Anthony Jones and a 13-point lead. With 7:26 to go, Baylor led by 11.
It was Tweety Carter who finally finished off the Razorbacks, first with a 3 and then a runner in the lane for 58-42. Stef Welsh didn’t come close from outside and the lead swelled to 20.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
