By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas lost more than another SEC road game Wednesday night.
The Razorbacks (12-6, 2-4 in the SEC) may have lost their two four-year seniors coming home for Saturday’s SEC game against the Ole Miss Rebels during their 88-73 loss in Gainesville, Fla., to the Florida Gators.
Senior starting guard and North Little Rock High graduate Anton Beard and senior alternating big man Trey Thompson of Madison via Forrest City High exited with first-half injuries and didn’t return for active duty at the O’Connell Center.
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said during Wednesday night’s postgame he was unsure if Beard or Thompson would be available for Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. SEC Network televised game against coach Andy Kennedy’s Rebels (10-8, 3-3 in the SEC), who were victors over Florida last Saturday in Oxford, Miss., before losing Tuesday night at Texas A&M.
Beard, who was only 1-for-6 from the field but had three assists and a rebound, played 13 minutes and was helped off the court with an ankle injury with 5:05 left before intermission.
Thompson, who made his only shot and grabbed a rebound, logged six minutes subbing for starting freshman center Daniel Gafford of El Dorado, but was pulled before the second half because of a pulled hamstring.
“We lose Beard,” Anderson said Wednesday night. “He’s a warrior. In the first half, he kind of got it going for us and then he went down. And Trey, he had some issues, too. He couldn’t move with a hamstring. Se we had two veteran guys not out there.”
Anderson told media in Gainesville that before the second half, Beard “tried to wrap it (the ankle) up and go but just couldn’t go.”
Thompson’s hamstring has bothered him recently and apparently was aggravated during Wednesday’s game.
“It tightened up and he couldn’t move,” Anderson said.
It was just Tuesday night during a break from his Miked Up radio show at Sassy’s Red House that Anderson said how much leadership that Beard and Thompson, the only two of his six seniors playing their entire collegiate career as Razorbacks, had shown after a dreadful 75-54 loss on Jan. 10 to LSU helping the Hogs focus on their 65-63 victory over Missouri last Saturday in Fayetteville.
“It had a big impact on the game," Anderson said of losing Beard and Thompson. "That's two guys that have been with us for four years. A couple bad breaks."
If Thompson still ails Saturday, it behooves Gafford, who had 14 points and 10 rebounds against Florida, to stay out of foul trouble, and for 6-8 senior forwards Dustin Thomas and Arlando Cook and 6-7 sophomore Adrio Bailey to log backup minutes that Thompson normally fills.
Freshman Darious Hall, a 6-6 guard from Little Rock Mills, who scored 10 points in his first and so far only start last Saturday against Missouri, started the second half for Beard against Florida.
Hall finished with four points and two rebounds in 18 minutes against Florida, while sophomore reserve guard C.J. Jones, previously 0-for-8 on 3-pointers in SEC play after hitting 26-of-60 treys in non-conference play, hit 2-of-5 treys in Gainesville.
“It’s next man up,” Anderson said. “Darious has got to be a warrior now. He’s got to grow up and he’s got to grow up quick.
“I thought C.J. came off the bench and gave us some really good minutes.
“I thought he would have a game where he would break out.”