Seems like old times

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

FAYETTEVILLE -- For one night at least, order was restored to Arkansas' basketball universe.
It was like old times Wednesday night for the Razorbacks as they ran past No. 24 Vanderbilt 78-63 before 17,413 fans at Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks (14-12, 6-7) ended their first home-court losing streak since 1986 and beat a nationally ranked team for the first time this season.
Arkansas had been 0-7 against teams that had been ranked at some point this season, including losing its last two home games against No. 9 Florida and No. 15 LSU.
Freshman Blake Eddins led the Razorbacks with 16 points, giving him 26 in the past two games. He had scored only 25 points in the team's first 24 games.
Freshman guard Joe Johnson had 15 points and 9 rebounds, and freshman forward Alonzo Lane added 12 points. Senior guard Chris Walker and sophomore guard Teddy Gipson had nine each, and sophomore guard Brandon Dean added seven.
It was a crucial victory for Arkansas' NIT hopes considering the Razorbacks' next two games are on the road against No. 18 Kentucky and No. 7 Tennessee before they finish the regular-season back home against No. 11 Auburn on March 5.
Senior forward Dan Langhi led Vanderbilt (17-7, 7-6) with 26 points as the Commodores dropped to 4-5 on the road this season.
Langhi's points looked nice in the box score but didn't mean much considering Arkansas led 22-7 by the time he scored.
Langhi, who came into the game as the SEC's leading scorer averaging 21.7 points, didn't start because Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings was upset with him for arguing with an official at the end of the Commodores' 85-72 victory over Tennessee Saturday night in Nashville.
Langhi entered Wednesday's game with 15:57 left in the first half and Arkansas leading 10-3 on its way to a 15-3 run the first five minutes.
After sophomore guard Sam Howard hit a three-pointer to give the Commodores a 3-0 lead, the Razorbacks scored the game's next 15 points for a 15-3 lead with 14:48 left.
Eddins scored eight points in the opening run, including hitting two three-pointers.
Vanderbilt went 4:23 without scoring before freshman guard Rick Jones hit a 15-foot jumper to make it 15-5. The Razorbacks then outscored the Commodores 19-4 over the next 7:30 to take a 34-9 lead with 5:30 left.
Six Razorbacks scored in the run, led by Gipson's seven points. Walker also helped key the scoring spurt with two steals and assists that resulted in baskets by Eddins and Gipson.
After Eddins hit 1 of 2 free throws at the 5:30 mark of the half, he had outscored Vanderbilt 12-9.
The Commodores went 5:32 without scoring before Langhi hit two free throws with 5:19 left in the half to make it 34-11.
Vanderbilt outscored Arkansas 13-4 the last 5:19 of the first half to pull within 38-22 at halftime.
Dean hit a three-pointer to open the second half and give Arkansas a 41-22 lead.
After Vanderbilt cut its deficit to 46-28, the Razorbacks got two blocked shots on the same possession from Lane.
Arkansas then outscored the Commodores 14-4 over a 4:42 span, started by Walker's three-pointer, to push its lead to 60-32 with 11:13 left.
The 28-point margin was Arkansas' biggest of the game. Vanderbilt didn't draw closer than 15 points the rest of the way as the Commodores scored the game's last nine points.

This article was published on Thursday, February 24, 2000

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