At 0-5 in the Southeastern Conference, and with the announcement the night prior that Boogie Fland was done for the year, Arkansas had to do something drastic Wednesday night against Georgia in Bud Walton Arena.
Those drastic measures included outrebounding the Bulldogs by 10 and making 29 of 34 free throws, which comes out to an 85% clip. Both of those statistical categories had cost the Razorbacks victories in previous SEC contests.
Even on a night where Arkansas only connected on 3 of 23 three-point attempts, its work on the boards still led to scoring on 53% of their halfcourt possessions. It matters a lot that “for the first time all season against a power-conference foe, the Hogs were efficient on offense without doing much in transition,” as BoAS contributor Adam Ford points out here.
Spacing the floor and forcing the Hogs’ opponent to respect them from the perimeter allowed guys like Karter Knox and Trevon Brazile and Adou Thiero the ability to crash the glass and get second-chance opportunities or go back up and get fouled.
Karter Knox Steps Up
Florida native Karter Knox has had an up-and-down freshman season thus far. He is the little brother of Kevin, who was drafted by the New York Knicks after playing for John Calipari in 2017-18 at Kentucky and is currently in the G League playing for the Santa Cruz Warriors.
As a heralded McDonald’s All-American in the Class of 2024, Knox was viewed as another potential one-and-done, but before Wednesday night, his season hadn’t much helped his case there. He doesn’t currently appear on any notable 2025 draft boards, but is for 2026, which means he will more than likely return to college basketball, and in Calipari’s case, he hopes to have a Year 2 with the Razorbacks.
His play against the Bulldogs on Wednesday was a pivotal factor in the 68-65 triumph, and he was feeling himself in the postgame press conference.
“We started driving the ball, being aggressive, attacking the glass,” Knox said. “We were too strong, so they can’t handle us. We just went in, fought for the ball, drove, got fouled and capitalized on the free throws.”
Calipari’s coaching staff must have seen something on the tape when preparing for Georgia, and conveyed that to Knox and his teammates.
“It definitely was (an emphasis),” Knox said. “Coaches told me at halftime to drive the ball and stop settling. I adapted to it really well, started driving it, got fouled. Started going for rebounds, got fouled. I’m too strong, they couldn’t hold me down there. Just going in, being aggressive.”
Even playing sans his classmate in Fland didn’t deter Knox and his comrades from the mission at hand, which was stopping the bleeding and getting that elusive conference win.
“We practiced without Boog, so just doing different lineups in practice, we already got great chemistry, “ Knox said. “With Boog being out, which is a big part of our offense, probably if he was in the game, we would have blew them out, but we just had to adjust.”
Arkansas Media Icon Takes it a Step Further
Clay Henry has watched his fair share of Arkansas basketball through the years.
Growing up under the tutelage of his late father, Orville, he was around the program when it started taking off under Eddie Sutton. The former was the creme de la creme of Arkansas sports journalists, and the latter was able to get especially close to Nolan Richardson when he was working at the Tulsa World and then as he started and published Hawgs Illustrated.
On the ‘Chuck and Bo Show’ Thursday morning, Henry was especially blunt when he was asked to describe his thoughts on the victory.
“When you got (Knox) and Thiero down there inside clawing for rebounds, this is – I don’t know if you (can) say this on the radio or not, but they’re a bitch,” Henry said. “They’re a bitch.”
Hosts Chuck Barrett and Bo Mattingly were taken aback by the strong language, but Henry chalked it up to his age.
“When you get to 70, stuff comes out like when you were five,” Henry said.
Henry is known amongst the media as an elder statesman and definitely isn’t someone that flies off the handle or does things for shock value, so the fact he made such a colorful statement is pretty remarkable.
Honestly, the idea of him cursing on-air is about as unlikely as say, Razorback broadcaster Quinn Grovey doing so on an Arkansas football game broadcast.
Fans almost got a glimpse of that during the Liberty Bowl two years ago when the Razorbacks played Kansas and were the recipients of some pretty egregious calls against them that could’ve definitely affected that outcome. The affable former star Hog quarterback admitted that’s the closest he’s gotten in a quarter century of radio to dropping an “f-bomb” on air.
If Arkansas basketball can continue to attack games with the same kind of warrior’s mindset they showed on Wednesday, Clay’s near-profanity won’t hold a candle to what opposing coaches will start yelling.
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Check it out Clay Henry’s comments on Karter Knox and Adou Thiero at the 2 hour, 14 minute mark below:
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