By Nate Allen
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - With Justice Hill officially signed to walk on with his Razorbacks upon his midterm graduation in December from Little Rock Christian Academy, Arkansas coach Mike Anderson officially could comment Thursday on the 5-11 point guard and son of Fitz Hill.
Hill is the former Razorbacks football receivers coach and recruiting coordinator and former San Jose State head football coach and former president of Arkansas Baptist College.
Justice Hill, also an outstanding football player, has for years eyed the Razorbacks while Anderson eyed him playing high school and as an AAU summer ball Arkansas Hawks teammate with Razorbacks freshmen Isaiah Joe of Fort Smith Northside, Desi Sills of Jonesboro and Ethan Henderson of Little Rock Parkview.
“Well, he played with a lot of these guys that are on our team right now,” Anderson said. “I think through the progression, different phases of his game have gotten better each and every year, even from the time he said, ‘I want to be a part of what you’re doing.’ He’s had an opportunity to play against some of the better players in the country and I thought there were times he thrived.”
HOOSIERS COMING
Arkansas’ already big game with the Big Ten’s tradition rich Indiana Hoosiers at 2:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPN at Walton Arena just got bigger.
The Hoosiers of second-year coach Archie Miller massacred Marquette 96-73 Wednesday night in Bloomington, Ind.
Marquette ranks 24th in this week’s AP poll, though obviously will plummet upon release of next week’s poll.
“Indiana is a really good basketball team,” Anderson said Thursday.
“They took it to a Marquette team that was ranked. I said earlier I thought Indiana was one of the better teams in the country.”
Razorbacks sophomores Daniel Gafford, the preseason All-SEC center from El Dorado, and Jalen Harris, the point guard who redshirted at Arkansas last season after transferring from the University of New Mexico, both were asked about the Hoosiers hammering Marquette.
“From what I'm hearing, Indiana came out ready to play,” Gafford said. “Marquette had some downfalls in some areas, but it was a good game from what I was hearing.”
Harris remarked, “That's Marquette. We’re Arkansas. That's how I feel about it.”
Harris did acknowledge Indiana’s Wednesday win upped Sunday’s stakes for the end of the season at large NCAA Tournament big resume.
“Every win is big for us, especially against somebody that's another Power 5 school,” Harris said.
“With them beating Marquette and with us getting a chance to beat them, it's pretty big, especially late in the season.”
A TOLEFREE BUZZER BEATER
Especially with the likes of nationally No. 24 Arizona State coming to Walton for Sunday’s 7 p.m. SEC Network game that has become Game Two of Sunday’s men’s/women’s basketball doubleheader, the typical coach immediately would have made his Razorbacks let go of Wednesday’s 66-65 buzzer beating victory in Arlington over the University of Texas-Arlington almost as quickly as Alexis Tolefree’s game-winner rimmed around and fell through.
Arkansas women’s Coach Mike Neighbors, who has been everything from a video coordinator to a Final Four coach at the University of Washington, is not your typical coach.
“I said, ‘Enjoy a buzzer beater,’” Neighbors relayed telling his team. “This is my 19th year in college coaching and I hadn’t been on the right side of a buzzer beater yet. So we’re going to show that highlight as many times as we need to. It’s fun to watch.”
As his first buzzer beater, Conway’s Tolefree, a junior transfer from Jones (Miss.) Community College but with lifetime ambition to be a Razorback, carves an Arkansas niche that Greenwood native Neighbors won’t forget.
“When she signed with us, her quote was she always wanted to be a Razorback,” Neighbors said. “We hear that a lot in other sports, but I don’t remember hearing that a lot in women’s basketball. It’s great that it’s happening for a kid who says that.”
And backs it up.
“She’s very confident and she’s earned the right to be confident because she’s earned the respect of her teammates,” Neighbors said. “It wasn’t a Jimmy Chitwood (the high school hero of the Hoosiers movie) moment. Not, ‘Give me the ball and I’ll make it.’ It was, ‘I’m ready if it comes my way.’”
It came Tolefree’s way from guard Jailyn Mason, and obviously, Tolefree was ready.
“She’s a joy to be around,” Neighbors said. “The more you are around her, the more you are going to see how lucky we are she wanted to be a Razorback.”