Johnell Davis’ complete performance powers Arkansas basketball past Texas

[ad_1]

In a variety of ways, Johnell Davis put his fingerprints all over Arkansas basketball’s road win over Texas.

Davis scored a season-high 24 points as the Razorbacks (14-8, 3-6 SEC) held off a late rally and topped the Longhorns 78-70 Saturday night. He hit four 3-pointers and shot 7 of 15 from the field.

And most importantly, this was the third consecutive game Davis scored at least 18 points. After a sluggish start to his Arkansas career, Davis is rounding into form when his team needs him most, fighting for the chance at a late run into the NCAA tournament.

“(Davis) has done great stuff. He’s grown up,” John Calipari said. “I sent them all a text that basically talked about, you have to go through failure if you’re ever going to have success. You have to walk through those gates.”

More: Arkansas basketball vs Texas score: Hogs hold off late rally to knock off Longhorns

More: Arkansas basketball’s former Wildcats haunt Kentucky in Hogs’ upset win

Davis certainly spent a fair share of time within those gates. He was supposed to be a dominant scorer for Arkansas right away, but the FAU transfer really didn’t get going until Boogie Fland’s injury forced Calipari to make Davis a central focus of the offense.

But that was only a small part of his impact against Texas.

At first, Davis shined on the defensive end. He had three of his four steals inside the opening 10 minutes, with all three takeaways leading to Arkansas baskets. Davis caused most of his havoc with off-ball pressure and by jumping the Texas passing lanes.

Davis found his offensive groove as the game wore on, and he was a critical piece of the Hogs’ decisive stretch.

Arkansas led by 11 at halftime, but the Razorbacks came out of the locker room and seized control with a 10-0 run. Davis made two 3-pointers, scored eight points and assisted an Adou Thiero dunk as the Hogs pushed their advantage to 45-24 with 16:40 remaining.

Of course, the Hogs could not cruise to the finish line. Texas hunted fouls and went on a furious…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/johnell-davis-complete-performance-powers-100845333.html

Author : Ft. Smith Southwest Times Record

Publish date : 2025-02-06 10:08:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.