Jan. 24, 2009
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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Korvotney Barber totaled 15 points, a career-high tying 18 rebounds and three blocks while DeWayne Reed added 16 points, six rebounds and six assists to lead Auburn to a 73-51 victory over Arkansas in Bud Walton Arena Saturday. It was the Razorbacks' worst loss in Bud Walton Arena history, and the Tigers' largest margin of victory in an SEC road game since 1999 and the sixth largest league road win in history.
Auburn (12-7, 2-3) made eight of its first 10 three-point attempts in the first 13 minutes of the game to jump on Arkansas (12-5, 0-4), which started out winless in its first four SEC games since joining the league in 1991-92.
After the Razorbacks cut the Tigers' 10-point lead in half at 54-49 on a Michael Sanchez layup with 9:22 to play, Auburn went on a 19-2 run to end the game as a Barber layup, Reed 3-pointer, Rasheem Barrett jumper, Lucas Hargrove 3-pointer, a Reed conventional 3-point play on a layup and foul shot, Barber layup, Reed layup and Brendon Knox layup finished the Hogs off.
'I told my team that Texas and Oklahoma didn't get a win here,' said Auburn head coach Jeff Lebo. 'I have been in the league 10 years, and I don't think the team realizes how hard it is to win here in Fayetteville.' Arkansas' only points the rest of the way came on a Marcus Britt jumper with 6:09 left.
Tay Waller, who finished with 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting from 3-point range, gave the Tigers the lead for good at 8-6 with a 3-pointer to start a 9-0 Auburn run for a 14-6 lead almost six minutes in. Arkansas closed to within three points, but Auburn pushed it back to 23-14 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Quantez Robertson and Waller.
The Hogs came within five at 26-21, but the Tigers scored seven straight points to take their largest lead of the first half at 33-21 on a Frankie Sullivan layup with 5:55 remaining. Holding a 38-31 halftime edge, Auburn scored the first four points of the second half on a pair of layups off a Reed steal leading to a Barrett fastbreak layup and a Barber block leading to a Waller fastbreak layup.
'When we shut down our opponent, we have a good chance to win,' Waller said. 'Our game plan on defense was to shut down Courtney Fortson, and to stop Rotnei (Clarke) from shooting the ball. When we play on the road, we try to keep the crowd out of the game, and we were able to accomplish that today.'
Auburn's staunch defense held Arkansas to only 30.2 percent (19-of-63) shooting from the field and 20.8 percent (5-of-24) shooting from 3-point range for the game and smothered the Hogs into only 22.6 percent (7-of-31) shooting from the field in the second half.
'I thought defensively we were really good,' Lebo said. 'Our start was important. At the eight-minute mark we knew Arkansas had a young backcourt that is inexperienced, and we posed our experience, which helped. Barber was great, he has been solid. He is finally coming back and getting consistent.'
The Tigers shot 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the field for the game, including 51.7 percent shooting (15-of-29) in the second half as they scored 22 of their 35 second half points in the paint.
Auburn only had three of their nine total turnovers in the second half and had 19 assists on 28 made field goals. The Tigers outrebounded the Razorbacks 43-41 and outscored them 10-0 in fastbreak points. 'It was a big SEC road win for us,' Barber said. 'Our defense really helped us out.'
Lucas Hargrove came off the bench to score 10 points, making half of his four 3-point attempts, in 21 minutes and Sullivan had four points and four assists in 15 minutes for Auburn. Barrett, who played only 19 minutes and only five in the first half after picking up a quick two fouls, finished with six points. Robertson totaled six points, four rebounds and four assists in 24 minutes. Barber's double-double was his fifth in 10 games as he is averaging 11.7 points and 11.4 rebounds during the span.
Stefan Welsh led Arkansas with 14 points and Courtney Fortson added 12 points and nine rebounds while Michael Washington had 12 rebounds and eight points.
The win was only Auburn's third win, all by double digits, in Fayetteville in 18 tries with this 22-point victory being the largest margin.
Auburn returns to action as it steps out of SEC play for its final non-conference regular season game of the year against Texas-Pan American (5-12) Tuesday at 7 pm Central in Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. It is the first of five home games in a six-game stretch for the Tigers, who then play host to Vanderbilt next Saturday at 1 pm Central.