Sanchez settles in vs. Aggies
FAYETTEVILLE — California-Davis Coach Gary Stewart and Aggies forward Joe Harden regretted how they approached Arkansas redshirt freshman forward Michael Sanchez in the Razorbacks’ 68-59 victory at Walton Arena.
Sanchez led Arkansas with 12 rebounds Thursday night, which wasn’t overly surprising considering he had the same total last week in the season opener against Southeastern Louisiana. His 12 points against UC-Davis was a little more eyeopening considering it was just his second college game.
“What hurt us is we were helping off of him on penetration, and they did a good job of finding him,” Stewart said.
Sanchez scored just five points in 25 minutes last Friday, but the Springdale resident found some offensive success in a hurry Thursday night.
Over a span of 1 minute, 38 seconds in the first half, Sanchez scored six consecutive points, the last two emphatic dunks off similar feeds by guard Stefan Welsh. In both instances, the Aggies backed off Sanchez, who worked free as Welsh took what the defense gave him.
“[Welsh ] was supposed to have the ball, but my man helped so I just slipped,” said Sanchez, who was active around the basket and took eight shots with five made field goals. “That’s something we work on, and there’s two options on that play. “ Coach [John Pelphrey ] and I have been working on taking it slow and letting the game come to me.” Nonetheless, Sanchez’s relentless effort made its mark. “I thought Mike played with passion, and his heart and toughness just really gave us a lift,” Pelphrey said. “I really liked the reckless abandon.”
Board games Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey didn’t seem that impressed his team held a decisive 44-29 edge in rebounding Thursday, which included allowing the Aggies just four offensive rebounds compared to 11 for the Razorbacks.
“We should have had that advantage,” Pelphrey said. “Their bigs are perimeter guys. They take mostly three-point shots.”
Still, it was an impressive performance by Arkansas, which turned the tables on UC-Davis. The Aggies outrebounded all of their three opponents last week at the World Vision Classic hosted by Iowa State. They also held a combined 26-18 margin in offensive rebounds, perhaps a byproduct of the an overall height advantage Pelphrey downplayed.
“We were doing a lot of one and done, shoot one shot and we’d be done,” Aggies forward Joe Harden said after his team missed 21 of 30 three-point shots. “A couple more offensive rebounds would have helped a lot, but a couple more made shots could have helped a lot too.”
Besides a game-high 12 rebounds by forward Michael Sanchez, Arkansas also got three apiece from guards Courtney Fortson and Stefan Welsh and two each from backcourt players Marcus Britt and Rotnei Clarke. Wings Jason Henry and Montrell McDonald also came off the bench for 11 rebounds between them. “Once all five guys crash the boards, we’ve got a chance to break out because whoever gets the ball can dribble it up,” Fortson said. “That’s good for us.”
Streak saver The Razorbacks’ ran their streak of at least one threepointer made to 648 games, but that one shot needed to keep the mark intact was all Arkansas hit. Courtney Fortson made a three-pointer with 3: 48 remaining in the first half as Arkansas finished just 1 for 13 from beyond the new 20-foot, 9-inch line. The last time the Razorbacks failed to make a three-pointer was Jan. 7, 1989, in a victory over Texas.
Three of a kind The technical foul called on Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey in the second half wasn’t the most intriguing moment in a crazy stretch. Between the technical and two made free throws by the Aggies’ Vince Oliver, both teams committed fouls on players attempting three-point shots. It was probably more damaging for UC-Davis. After a five-point play and Joe Harden making all of his three free throws pulled the Aggies to within 44-37, Kyle Brucculeri knocked over Razorbacks freshman Rotnei Clarke as he threw up a difficult three-point try from the corner in front of Arkansas’ bench. Clarke made all three of his free throws to stretch the margin to 47-37.
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