Hogs’ conditioning pays off with late surge to beat Louisiana 76-63

Courtesy, UA Athletics

Mike Anderson has preached it since he got here, and the head Hog may finally have a bench deep enough to wear down opponents the way he wants to with his Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball style of play.

That’s what happened Friday night, anyway, in a hard fought 76-63 victory over Louisiana.

Arkansas found themselves in a dogfight against a Ragin’ Cajun team that gave the Hogs all they wanted for 35 minutes. The problem for Louisiana is that college basketball is a 40-minute game.

In a back-and-forth matchup, Arkansas trailed 60-59 with 5:49 left, but the Hogs finished strong, closing the game with a 17-3 run to seal the win.

“I thought during the second half fatigue was a big factor,” Anderson said. “We had one of those spurts right there at the end. That’s the great thing about how we play. You don’t know when it’s coming, but if you can just kind of hang around and hang in there, eventually it will come.”

Alandise Harris led the Hogs with 19 points on 7-10 shooting off the bench. Michael Qualls stuffed the stat sheet with 16 points, a team high 8 rebounds, and a team high 5 assists, and freshman forward Bobby Portis added 14 points in the winning effort.

Arkansas improved to 2-0 on the year, and won their 16th straight game at Bud Walton Arena.

Next up, the Hogs will take on Larry Brown and his SMU Mustangs on Monday night at Bud Walton Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

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