Red Takes Down White, 64-59

FAYETTEVILLE – Jalen Graham scored 25 points on 10-of-11 shooting, and Anthony Black just missed a double-double with nine rebounds and nine assists to lead their squad to a 64-59 victory at the annual Red-White Game, presented by Reese’s, Sunday afternoon at Barnhill Arena.

Nick Smith Jr., had 22 points for Team White in a losing effort.

With the game tied at 8-8 midway through the first quarter, Graham scored nine points in a 12-4 run to end the quarter with a 20-12 lead.

Team Red kept control through the second quarter and pushed its lead to 15 (5-35) through three quarters. Graham scored seven, Joseph Pinion added seven and Ricky Council IV started the quarter with a layup and ended the frame with a dunk at the buzzer.

In the fourth quarter, Team Red grabbed its largest lead of 17 points with 6:15 left after a pair of Black free throws. From that point, Smith led Team White on an 11-0 run, scoring nine points, to get his squad back in the game. A Derrian Ford jumper in the paint followed by a Trevon Brazile 3-pointer and a Smith fastbreak jumper trimmed Team White’s deficit to four (61-57) with 36 seconds left. Cade Arbogast sealed the win for Team Red with a 3-pointer from the left corner with 18 ticks left.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• The game format was four, eight-minute quarters. In the first half, a 24-second shot clock was used while the traditional 30-second shot clock was used in the second half.
• Graham scored a game-high 25 points (10-of-11 FG, 1-of-1 3PT and 4-of-8 FT).
• Black had nine rebounds, nine assists and three blocked shots.
• Black and Nick Smith Jr., were the only two players to play all 32 minutes (four, eight-minute quarters).
• For Team White, Pinion added 12 points (2-of-5 3PT) and Council scored 10.
• Pinion led all players with a +15 while Graham had a +14.
• Smith’s 22 points came on 7-of-20 shooting from the field (2-of-7 3PT) and 6-of-8 from the line.
• For Team Red, Brazile added 13 points with five rebounds and three assists while Kamani Johnson had nine rebounds.
• Both teams had 14 assists and nine assists.
• The Razorback “bigs” combined to make 20-of-25 shots from the field. In addition to Graham’s 10-of-11 shooting, Mikhi Mitchell was 3-of-4, Makhel Mitchell was 4-of-4 (with four assists) and Johnson was 3-of-6.

Arkansas will take another step in its preparation for the 2022-23 season opener on Oct. 24 (Monday) by welcoming Rogers State to Bud Walton Arena for the first of two exhibition games.

For more­­ information on Arkansas Men’s Basketball, follow @RazorbackMBB on Twitter.