'Notes' competitive in family business

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- Nolan "Notes" Richardson III made it tough on the old man Friday night.
Richardson III's debut as a head coach for Tennessee State against his father -- Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson -- was supposed to be a nice story, but also an easy victory for the 15th-ranked Razorbacks.
Arkansas won 90-68 before 16,781 fans at Walton Arena in the inaugural John Thompson Foundation Challenge Classic, but it wasn't an easy game for the Razorbacks.
Tennessee State trailed 66-63 when senior guard Terrick Brown hit a three-pointer with 6:17 left.
Then the Razorbacks took over, outscoring the Tigers 16-0 over a 3:27 span to push Arkansas' lead to 82-63 with 1:58 left and finally put the Tigers away.
"Sometimes you get a run like that, sometimes you don't," Richardson said. "Thank goodness we got on one at the end or else ol' Notes was going to pull it out."
Arkansas junior guard T.J. Cleveland hit a three-pointer to start the run, then sophomore guard Joe Johnson scored seven consecutive points. The run, which also featured three blocked shots by 6-9 sophomore forward Larry Satchell, then ended with a dunk by Teddy Gipson and a rebound basket by Johnson.
"The thing that was big about Larry's block is that he kept the ball in play," Richardson said. "His blocks started fast breaks and we were able to get easy points on the other end."
Arkansas will play Southern Mississippi, which beat Louisiana Tech 70-63 in Friday night's opener, at approximately 8:15 tonight in the Thompson Classic championship game.
Tennessee State will play Louisiana Tech at 6 p.m. in the third-place game.
Johnson, the preseason SEC Player of the Year, led the Razorbacks with 27 points, hitting 11 of 16 field-goal attempts. He also had six rebounds.
Gipson had 17 points, hitting 7 of 11 shots. Junior guard Brandon Dean added 9 points and Cleveland had 8.
Satchell played 11 minutes, but had 5 blocked shots, 5 points and 4 rebounds.
Senior forward Kevin Samuel led Tennessee State with 20 points. Brown added 14.
Tigers freshman guard Garrett Richardson -- Nolan Richardson's grandson and Richardson III's nephew -- scored three points in his college debut.
"I feel truly blessed to have been part of a night like this, being involved in a game with my son and grandson," Richardson said. "But this wasn't an easy game to play.
"I'm just happy the game is over and we can go on and play some other teams and Notes can play some other teams."
Richardson said while the Razorbacks struggled to pull away from the Tigers, he couldn't help but be proud of his son's team.
"I've never seen a new coach have his team buy into his system so quickly," Richardson said of the Tigers, who were 7-22 last season. "They really played us tough. We'd get a 10- or 12-point and you'd start thinking we're pretty safe, but then turned up the heat on us again."
Richardson improved his record to 18-0 against his former assistant coaches, including his son, Andy Stoglin, Scott Edgar and Rob Spivery.
"I'm glad it's over," Richardson III said of his head coaching debut. "I was just hoping my kids played well and didn't play scared.
"Arkansas made that run and, of course, they put us away."
Tennessee State outscored Arkansas 7-2 the last 2:27 of the first half to cut Arkansas' halftime lead to 38-32. Samuel hit an 18-foot jumper and a three-pointer and Brown scored a basket to pull the Tigers within 36-32 at the 1:37 mark. Johnson then scored on a drive with 42 seconds left to give the Razorbacks a six-point lead.
Arkansas played all 12 of its scholarship players in the first half and Tennessee State used 11 players. Senior guard Jamie Roberts scored the game's first basket on a rebound for a 2-0 Tennessee State lead.
Arkansas then moved ahead 6-2 on baskets by Johnson, Gipson and junior guard Jannero Pargo. Samuel's three-pointer gave the Tigers a 7-6 lead at the 15:53 mark of the half. A driving basket by Johnson put Arkansas back ahead, 8-7.
Tennessee State then got its biggest lead of the game, 13-10, on Samuel's rebound basket with 12:41 left in the half.
Sophomore guard Blake Eddins then gave the Razorbacks a lift off the bench, hitting a three-point basket and passing to Satchell for a layup that put Arkansas ahead 15-13.
Tennessee State regained the lead, 16-15, on a three-point basket by junior guard Kyle Rolston.
Arkansas then outscored the Tigers 15-3 over a 6:24 span to open up a 30-19 lead with 4:29 left in the half. Gipson had six points in the run and senior guard Brandon Davis scored two rebound baskets.

This article was published on Saturday, November 18, 2000

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