Hogs Finally Get to Play in Front of Crowd with Refs at Barnhill Arena

Arkansas doesn't start exhibition play until next Sunday but the crowd didn't care.

They squeezed into old Barnhill Arena, the place where basketball got started at Arkansas, to see the White team spot the Red 13 points then come roaring back for a 74-63 win.

Eric Musselman was just glad to get back in front of a crowd and have officials calling a game.

"We needed it," Musselman said later. "There's been a lot of banging each other for eight of the ten weeks in summer, and then you add all of September and a few weeks into October.

"That's a lot of weeks going against one another. At least today gave us more of a game type atmosphere, which was much needed."

The Red jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead but that didn't last long.

JD Notae on the White team got going (he scored 22 in the game) and the White team won the second, third and fourth quarters for a 74-63 victory.

The game featured four, eight-minute quarters and some pre-game entertainment from the Razorbacks with Trey Wade winning the talent contest.

Notae, the 2021 SEC Sixth Man of the Year, also produced game highs in assists (6) and steals (4). Jaxson Robinson and Chris Lykes added 14 points each for the White, while Jaylin Williams, who only played six minutes in the second half, scored 12 points.

Stanley Umude led the Red team with 16 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. He added four assists as well. Davonte Davis also scored 16 points for the Red while Connor Vanover and Au’DIese Toney contributed 10 points each.

Quarter 1

• Davis scored the first points of the game as his Red squad raced out to a 13-0 lead.

• Williams broke the scoring drought for White as part of an 11-3 run to make the score 16-11 and force a Red timeout.

• Red led 21-13 at the end of the first quarter thanks to seven points from Davis. Williams led all scorers in the quarter with eight, including a pair of triples.

Quarter 2

The White out-scored the Red 19-10 in the second quarter to lead by one, 32-31, at the break.

The White was led by Robinson, who made 2-of-4 from 2-point range.

Late in the second quarter, Cade Arbogast made a 3-pointer and Notae had a fastbreak layup to cut the deficit to one, 31-30.

Kamani Johnson later had a putback dunk for the White team’s first lead, 32-31 with 35 seconds left, which proved to be the halftime score.

Quarter 3

The White made 8 of its last 9 field goals of the quarter to take a 54-47 lead. Overall, the White shot 64.3 percent from the field.

The White made six straight during the run.

Notae led the White with seven points in the quarter.

Quarter 4

Down seven to start the final quarter, Vanover started the fourth quarter with a dunk to get the Red to within five.

Later, Davis got a steal and an old-fashion 3-point play on a fastbreak to trim the Red deficit to three (59-56).

The White answered 15-2 run to push the lead to 16 (74-58) with 59 seconds left, putting the game out of reach.

Notae and Lykes each scored five points during the decisive 15-2 run. Notae finished the quarter with eight points and Lykes seven.

Up next, Arkansas will host East Central University in the first of two exhibition games on Oct. 24 (Sunday). Tip off is set for 3 pm in Bud Walton Arena.

Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.