Bill's Blog: Back to Basketball

9:00 p.m. — That’s it from Walton Arena — FInal score Arkansas 68, UC-Davis 59. The men’s basketball team is on the road at Missouri State on Saturday. We are hoping that we might get a video stream share from MSU. We will know for sure tomorrow. Meanwhile, the women’s team host SMU at Friday. Next Razorback game at home is Florida A&M, and that game will stream live here on ArkansasRazorbacks.com. Good night from press row.

8:58 p.m. — UCD’s last shot is a miss, and Fortson will dribble out the final 24 seconds before tossing the ball to the official. That’s it, and Pel heads down the tunnel with a bit of a smile. The Razorbacks played harder defense in the second half, outrebounded UCD 44-29. Still, hitting only one three-pointer for a team that can be a strong squad from the arc will cause pause.

8:57 p.m. — Arkansas gets one of two free throws, and Sanchez checks out of the game. He’ll sit with 12 points and 12 boards.

8:56 p.m. — Quick rush up the floor for a Payne jumper and timeout. Still it’s a three possession game at best for UCD.

8:54 p.m. — Hardin’s trey draws iron; Washington’s rebound draws a crowd. Malik ends up being the Aggie with the foul. Washington rims out the first, gets the second, 67-57, with 46 left.

8:52 p.m. — Get out the mops as four players hit the floor for a loose ball on the Arkansas end. By the time UCD comes away with it, the Aggies have a chance to cut to five, instead gack the shot and away goes Clarke. His breakaway layup makes it 66-57. UCD calls time with 58.7 left.

8:51 p.m. — Time out Arkansas. With just over two minutes left, Razorbacks hold a seven-point lead, 64-57, but it is an uneasy lead. One of the main reasons is three-pointers. Arkansas is 1-of-13 while UCD is 9-of-26.

8:49 p.m. — Sanchez gets both free throws, back to a nine-point lead after the time out; Adam Malik takes it back with a quick three for UCD, 63-57.

8:46 p.m. — That’s it for Brucculeri and his fifth foul will take us to a time out.

8:45 p.m. — Hey, look what I found as a pass catches Joe Hardin on the shoulder and ricochets up court. UCD scoops up the ball, dishes to Hardin for the layup. Arkansas leads 61-54.

8:43 p.m. — Arkansas opens full court after the TO, UCD advances, but gets nothing. Welsh walks it up the court as Arkansas sets in the halfcourt, Washington called for the travel. Another FCP by Arkansas. Washington sets for the baseline charge and a huge collision. Play on.

8:41 p.m. — Third media time out of the second half. Razorbacks are controlling the game, but can’t put away the Aggies. Neither offense is finding a lot of room to manuever, and free throws continue as the coin of the realm.

8:38 p.m. — Stefan Welsh gets a breakaway layup that brings the crowd to its feet; Razorbacks press and initially frustrate the Aggies, but an Oliver three quiets the crowd and another three from Harden and UCD is back to within seven, 59-52.

8:36 p.m. — More Roteni free throws to move the lead back to double digits, 57-46; this is becoming a physical war.

8:34 p.m. — The stick back by Henry is the first field goal by either team in four minutes; Razorbacks up 55-46 with 9:40 left.

8:30 p.m. — In the last two minutes, there are a combined 17 made free throws, only three field goals.

8:28 p.m. — This has become a very physical match, and in a very short period — just over 60 seconds in clock time — UCD has 10 fouls and Fortson is at the line for two throws. He gets one of two, 52-46, Arkansas.

8:25 p.m. — Montrell McDonald makes a strong drive to the rack and draws the seventh UCD foul. He’ll get two for the shooting foul, but only gets one of two. Washington gets clipped for over the back on the free throw miss, so that’s Arkansas’ seventh. Bonus the rest of the way for both teams. 51-44 with 13:11 to play.

8:23 p.m. — Davis is on a 15-4 run; 7-1 in the last two minutes. Pel’s TO was also a chance to get his guys back together. Off the inbounds, Washington drives for a free throw scoop-jumper, and draws contact from Calegeri. That’s the three-point shooting forward for UCD’s third, and Washington gets both free throws.

8:21 p.m. — Coach Pel saves a turnover by calling a time out. Washington and Calegari went up together for a Razorback miss, and Washington came down with the ball but was on the floor. Before he gets tied up or traveled, Pel gets the quick TO.

8:19 p.m. — Big blow for the Aggies as their second leading scorer, Brucculeri, picks up his fourth. He’ll go to the bench with just under 15 minutes left and nine points. Davis has the lead down to five, 46-41.

8:15 p.m. — Media time out one of the second half. Arkansas field goal percentage is now up to 51.3% for the game.

8:14 p.m. — Ooh, hard foul on Rotnei Clarke that sends him into the Razorback bench. The team comes over, the crowd to its feet, and Clarke gets two of the three free throws; now 47-37 and the students are on their feet.

8:11 p.m. — Nothing like a technical foul to get the crowd moving. Oliver hits both of the tech. then Hardin both FTs.

8:00 p.m. — Back on the court for warm-ups.

7:51 p.m. — Ladies and gentlemen, it’s the mascot halftime game. Maggie Moo, Pork Chop, Coney Dog from Sonic, the ATT do and Petco’s Blue Moo versus the Chick-Fil-A boy cow, Chick-Fil-A girl cow, Strike the Sasquach from the Naturals, Pizza Slice from Popa Johns and Big Red.

7:50 p.m. — Ben Harrison of Springdale is tonight’s Taco Bell ball hog ball boy.

7:49 p.m. — UCD misses the last second shot, but you can read on Coach Pel’s face that he’s not pleased with the way the half closed out. Bet the Razorbacks come out on fire for the second half like they did the start of the game.

7:47 p.m. — Davis making a late half push, cut the lead to eight, 35-27. Pel likely has this on his chalk board at half about keeping up the pressure to the end of the half. Fortson gets fouled, but misses the first of two. Now 36-27.

7:43 p.m. — Media time out number four and the pace continues. UCD hitting in the high 20s while Arkansas is now up to 48.4%. The Aggies have almost as many free throws made (5) as field goals (6). Fortson is now leading Arkansas with a hot-handed 5-of-7 for 11 points.

7:40 p.m. — There’s the first three-pointer for Arkansas; Fortson strokes it from the deep left corner, 33-16.

7:38 p.m. — Fortson hits another short jumper to give him eight on the night and push Arkansas’ lead to 14; UCD calls a 30-second time out to attempt to stop the bleeding.

7:35 p.m. — Sanchez with the work around scoop with the right hand, 26-16; Fortson adds two, 28-16; Sanchez forces a rebound turnover and takes a seat to a big round of applause.

7:31 p.m. — Media time out number three. If Coach Pel wanted more defense, he’s getting it now as UCD is only 4-of-14, 28.6%, from the field and five turnovers. Razorbacks are hitting 45.5% with 10-of-22, but so far treyless in four attempts.

7:29 p.m. — Oestreicher gets a pair of free throws to stop the 9-0 Arkansas run, but the Aggies still haven’t made a field goal in five minutes.

7:27 p.m. — All hail the curly one as Sanchez jams another one home; Michael is now only four points behind UCD as the Razorbacks lead 22-10.

7:25 p.m. — Razorback shooting percentage better out of the gate tonight at 44%, but Arkansas’ rebounding and defense is much better. A 2:1 margin on the boards — let me pause and salute Sanchez’ two-handed flush, 20-10, Arkansas — as we have a 12-6 advantage.

7:23 p.m. — Sanchez drops a deuce and Arkansas is on a 6-0 run as we hit the second media time out; UA 18-10.

7:18 p.m. — Calegari’s baby jump hook snaps the FG drought for UCD; Arkansas matches and the margin stays six points.

7:17 p.m. — UCD goes inside for the first time out of the offense, and Harden gets fouled by Fortson. He gets both throws to snap Arkansas’ run. Still, its been almost four minutes since UCD made a field goal.

7:16 p.m. — A hush falls over Walton Arena as Washington completes the three-point play, it’s a 9-0 run for Arkansas.

7:14 p.m. — UCD is hitting 33% from three-point range; that’s good for the Aggies ’cause they have shot almost nothing but treys. UCD is 1-4 overall and 1-3 from behind the arc. Arkansas is 44.4% from the field to open.

7:12 p.m. — Washington gets the hoop and harm; We go to our first media time out with a free throw to come and the Razorbacks up 8-3.

7:11 p.m. — Don’t forget, tomorrow night the women’s team takes on SMU at 7 p.m. — that game will be a live video stream.

7:10 p.m. — Washington sacrifices his body again; charge on UCD. Remember he had two for him, two called as blocks, in the SLU game. Leads to a Razorback layup and Arkansas’ first lead, 4-3.

7:09 p.m. — Brucculeri hits a fall-away trey over Sanchez to open tonight’s scoring; Clarke drives to the rack for Arkansas’ first.

7:08 p.m. — Davis opening with a high screening offense, lots of overload movement — but, you’ve got to keep your feet inbounds. Turnover UCD

7:06 p.m. — Tipoff to Arkansas. Washington long on the first three-point shot of the night.

7:04 p.m. — Razorback starters after the running hog laser show — Washington, Fortson, Welsh, Clarke and Sanchez.

7:03 p.m. — Starting lineups for UC-Davis: Kyle Brucculeri (who cares) Dominic Calegari (he’s cute) Joe Hardin (what’s that smell) Payne (who’s she) Vince Oliver (big deal) head coach (nice hair)

7:01 p.m. — Razorbacks of course went to OT in the opener with Southeastern Louisiana. Many of you were along for that thrill ride. Coach Pel has talked a lot this week in the media about being focused on defense. It will be interesting to see how the pace opens.

6:57 p.m. — RSP has a new feature for fans — small single-ear radios that allow you to hear directly from the network broadcast in the arena. They’re $20, and well worth it if you like to hear the game in the venue.

6:56 p.m. — Let’s call those hogs; into the highlight reel. Crowd is starting to filter into the arena.

6:54 p.m. — National Anthem.

6:50 p.m. — Tentative starters: Arkansas — Washington Fortson Welsh Clarke Sanchez; UCD — Oliver, Payne, Brucculeri, Hardin, Calegari.

6:40 p.m. — Here come your Arkansas RAAAAZZZZZORBAAAAACKS.

6:33 p.m. — Game clock is now under 30:00 to tipoff.

6:25 p.m. — Teams have now cleared the floor, and the arena crew has prepped the floor for the team entry. We can hear the Razorback band horns warming up on the concourse.

6:13 p.m. — Part of UCD’s team has headed back to the locker room; the Razorbacks continue on the floor. It’s a slow arriving crowd with it being a weekday game. It’s pretty cold in Fayetteville tonight — a freeze warning is forecast.

6:01 p.m. — Good evening and welcome to Bud Walton Arena. Both teams are on the floor for informal shooting. Cal-Davis with it’s Yale Blue warm-ups resembles Gonzaga’s unis.

Welcome back to the game day basketball blog. Tonight’s opponent is Cal-Davis, and this is the first visit to Bud Walton Arena for the Aggies.

Tickets are available for tonight’s game — in fact, single game tickets are now on sale for all the home games.

As a starting reminder, due to SEC rules, tonight’s game will not be a live stream (look for that on Florida A&M as that game is clear of conflicts).

But, the game will be up as soon as we are allowed as a replay, first half then second half. Until then, follow along with the blog.

I want to thank the folks that sent notes in after last week’s initial men’s basketball blog — that in part drove the decision to come back tonight.

For now, it’s off to Walton Arena. See you back here on the blog around 6 p.m.