By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Courtney Fortson’s one-man show in the victory over Mississippi State was spectacular, a talking point for days. Arkansas’ triumph at Ole Miss was blue collar and involved a variety of contributors, a style that is more feasible and reliable in the long term.
Team is the preferred theme.
Fortson cannot be expected to duplicate his 33 points in the second half vs. the Bulldogs; Michael Washington, Marshawn Powell, Rotnei Clarke, Julysses Nobles, and Marcus Britt can do what they did vs. the Rebels.
There are some eerie similarities between Arkansas’ victories over Alabama and Ole Miss.
In each game, Powell took 13 shots, Clarke tried 11, and Washington attempted 10. In each game, all three were effective. Powell made seven field goals in one game and eight in the other. Clarke was good on five in each game, including four 3s in each outing. Washington hit six baskets and five.
About the only disparity involves Fortson.
Fortson took 15 shots in 35 minutes vs. Alabama, only seven shots in 27 minutes at Ole Miss. Nobles picked up the slack with 19 minutes, and the thing to be gleaned from the box score is the fat zero under turnovers.
Saddled with four fouls, Fortson sat down with 12:29 to play and Ole Miss ahead 53-48. When he returned with 2:44 remaining, Arkansas was in front 74-71.
At point guard during that stretch, Nobles did not try to emulate Fortson. He simply took care of the basketball, an outstanding accomplishment for a freshman who could have gotten down on himself and his coach for his reduced role since Fortson’s return to the team.
While Fortson was dealing with personal problems, Nobles was the starter, a pretty big deal for a young man a few months out of high school. With Fortson playing 35 minutes or more, Nobles totaled 16 minutes in Arkansas’ first five SEC games.
“We always talk about your day is coming,” said Arkansas coach John Pelphrey.
The constant in all three of Arkansas’ SEC victories is that the Razorbacks came from behind in the second half.
Once conference play begins, weathering an opponent’s brief, but inevitable splurge is the secret. Stay close and anything can happen at the end.
On Saturday, South Carolina trailed by nine with less than 10 minutes to play and edged Georgia 78-77 on Devan Downey’s basket with 50 seconds to play. Even then, the Bulldogs had a chance, but Dustin Ware missed the front end of a one-and-one with 3.5 seconds to play. The next day, Alex Tyus missed an in-close jumper with five seconds remaining and Tennessee slipped past Florida 61-60.
In less than a week, Arkansas has raised serious questions about whether the Mississippi schools will finish one-two in the Western Division as expected. The same team that withered against Kentucky is one-game out of first place at 3-3 and could be leading the division by the end of the week.
Ole Miss (4-3) is likely to lose at Kentucky tonight and Mississippi State (4-2) will be hard-pressed to win at Vanderbilt on Wednesday night and at Florida on the weekend.
Arkansas’ assignment begins with beating 1-5 Georgia on the road. The Bulldogs will be better inside than the Ole Miss team that played without Reginald Buckner. Still, confidence would be high if there was a guarantee that the Razorbacks would shoot 27 free throws and make 23 as they did against the Rebels.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
