Whistles come in droves in 2nd

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Alabama's winning streak against Arkansas continues. So does Crimson Tide Coach Mark Gottfried's.
The Tide beat the Razorbacks 73-64 Wednesday night in Coleman Coliseum for its fourth consecutive victory in the series and Gottfried improved his record to 6-0 against Arkansas as a player and coach.
"Lucky," Gottfried said of his success against the Razorbacks. "I really can't explain it, but those things usually balance out, which isn't a good sign."
The Razorbacks (10-7, 2-2) had their chances to win a second consecutive SEC road game, but they had 21 turnovers and shot 39.2 percent from the field (20 of 51) and barely resembled the team that beat Georgia 74-54 last week.
"You can't really keep blaming it on being young, but we just have our nights," said freshman guard Joe Johnson, who led Arkansas with a career-high 20 points and 7 rebounds. "One night we may be up and one night we may be down. Tonight we were down."
Johnson kept the Razorbacks in the game by scoring 18 points in the second half. He played 31 minutes, with just 10 in the first half after picking up two fouls.
Gottfried was glad not to have to see more of Johnson.
"My goodness, is Joe Johnson good," Gottfried said. "He's as good a freshman as I've seen in a while. He can flat out play.
"In the second half, we tried everything under the sun to stop him, but he's a handful and can beat you in a lot of ways."
But Johnson wasn't the top scoring freshman in Wednesday night's game. That honor went to Alabama freshman guard Terrance Meade, who scored a career-high 25 points, including the Tide's first 14.
"Terrance was feeling it, and it's a good thing," Alabama sophomore guard Schea Cotton said. "Because he carried us there for a while."
Cotton carried the Tide (9-7, 2-2) late, scoring 14 points in the final 7:24 and finishing with a career-high 24. He hit just 4 of 14 from the field, but 15 of 19 from the line.
Cotton, 6-5, got to the line by getting to the glass. He had 11 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.
"Schea struggled early, but he's a scorer, and scorers stay aggressive," Gottfried said.
Arkansas senior guard Chris Walker, who came into the game averaging a team-high 13.3 points, scored a season-low three. He was 0 of 8 from the field and 3 of 6 from the line with six turnovers.
"Chris probably had the worst game I've seen him play since he's been a Razorback," Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said. "But it's not all Chris' fault. He's about equal to a sophomore in playing experience, so he's going to make some of those freshmen and sophomore mistakes."
Razorbacks sophomore point guard T.J. Cleveland had nine points and five steals before fouling out with 5:17 left.
Freshman forward Alonzo Lane, the Razorbacks' best inside scoring threat, played 15 minutes and fouled with 7:54 left with 4 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.
"We played terrible ... we were sloppy," Richardson said. "But let's give Alabama credit, too. They played pretty good basketball."
Alabama, which has lost 6-10 senior Jeremy Hays and 6-9 freshman Kenny Walker to injuries and started a four-guard lineup against Arkansas, outrebounded the Razorbacks 46-29.
"We're not that big, either," Richardson said. "Their guards outrebounded ours."
The Tide still has one big man left, 6-8 freshman Erwin Dudley, who had seven points and 12 rebounds.
Meade played point guard earlier in the season, but is now at shooting guard, his natural position, with junior Tarik London at the point.
"I'm just playing and shooting now," said Meade, who was 8 of 12 from the field and hit 5 of 7 on three-point attempts. "It seemed like I was in a zone and couldn't miss."
After Johnson's three-point play gave Arkansas a 39-38 lead, Meade hit two three-pointers to lead an 11-4 Alabama run that moved the Tide ahead 49-43 with 9:49 left.
Three times the Razorbacks pulled within a point the eight minutes, but they never could get closer.
Arkansas still had a shot to win, trailing 65-61, when Alabama junior guard Doc Martin hit a three-pointer with 1:38 left to give the Tide a 68-61 lead. Those were Martin's only points of the game.
"I thought we played good enough to win," Gottfried said. "I don't know that we played our best, but we played pretty good."

This article was published on Thursday, January 20, 2000

RETURN to Razorback Report