Razorbacks Rally to Defeat the Bears

Tuesday, November 9

Fayetteville, AR

8:00 PM ET

Mercer University

0-1,0-0SoCon

University of Arkansas

1-0,0-0SEC

Mercer

Arkansas

11/10/2021 12:19:00 AM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Razorbacks receive the 74-61 victory.

By: Jake List

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A second half rally was necessary for the Arkansas Razorbacks to come back and defeat Mercer, 74-61.

Mercer (0-1, 0-0 SoCon) was slightly slow out of the gate. Arkansas started the game off with a 5-0 lead. That was until Jalen Johnson started the scoring off for the Bears with a deep three at 17:45. From there, the Bears would live and die by that shot. Shawn Walker Jr. was next to score for the Bears with a three of his own to allow Mercer, at that point, to come within two. Continuing into the half, the first eight made shots for Mercer were all three-point baskets.

The momentum took a vast swing in favor of the Orange & Black with the Bears taking the lead entering the half. The Bears led 36-28 as they shot 13-27 from the field and 8-17 from behind the arc. Junior Kamar Robertson had 9-out-of-the-14 points for the Bears' points going into the half.

Robertson opened the Mercer lead with a three-pointer with 8:15 left to play in the first. Robertson would go on to make another jumper with Neftali Alvarez following him with a make of his own on a fast break, silencing the Razorback crowd. Robertson made the next two shots for the Bears with a pair of threes being converted from Felipe Haase and James Glisson III.

Arkansas (1-0, 0-0) couldn't find its response to Mercer's three ball. Every time JD Notae or Au'Diese Toney found the basket, the Bears had a floater or jumper to answer. MU was able to share the ball well with Walker Jr., Haase, Glisson III, and Johnson all having an impressive offensive presence for the Bears in the first half.

The Razorbacks were not too pleased with their first 20 minutes and decided to kick it up a notch entering the second half. The Hogs scored six quick points in the first minute and half of gameplay. Alvarez slowed Arkansas' run with a jumper in the paint at 18:09. Inevitably, the second half answer just wasn't there for the Bears. However, each team decided to showcase their talents and traded the lead seven times in the first ten minutes of the second half. It was a three from Chris Lykes with 8:43 left that started the final run for Arkansas. Arkansas was quick on defense and with swift hands they were able to tally 21 points off 13 forced turnovers. With a dry spell from the field for the Orange & Black, Arkansas went on a 11-0 run in five of the six final minutes to secure a 74-61 victory in Fayetteville.

Mercer was led by Glissons' 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Right behind him, was Robertson with 12 points of his own and one rebound While both Walker Jr. and Haase followed with 10 points apiece. All the Bears shot a hot 48.15% (13-of-27) in the first half, but cooled down in the final 20 minutes, connecting on 10-of-24 (41.67%) attempts. For the game, Mercer was 23-of-51 (45.1 percent).

Greg Gary Quotables

ON THE GAME
After having the lead in the first half, Greg told his squad, "To mimic what they did in the first. We played well, but we need to limit our turnovers. We knew Arkansas could score well off fast breaks and steals, but if we could keep possession of the ball then we knew we were in good shape." After seeing tonight's final score coach Gary had this to say, "We need to be more physical on the ball. We're on the road against a top 20 team in the country and in order to win games like this we need to be able to make those tough, physical, and smart plays, and we just couldn't do so."

ON THE ENVIORNMENT OF THE GAME
"We have guys who are mature and have been around atmospheres similar to this one, we just need to get smarter in the second half. I think the team responded well to the environment we put ourselves in. Nevertheless, we can't break down offensively and we need to keep our rhythm going for the entirety of the game no matter where we are.

NOTABLES

Glisson III scored a team-high 12 points.
The Bears were nice from distance in the first half, scoring from 8-17 attempts.
Four bears reached double figures in tonight's matchup.
Glisson III pulled down four boards and is looking to beat his total of 103 from last season.
Robertson finished in double figures in both Bears' games this week. He averaged 12.5 points per game this week.
Alvarez had six assists. He and Haase had a combined nine helpers.

UP NEXT
The Bears will travel to Rock Hill to face the Eagles of Winthrop on Nov. 13. Mercer, just three days later, will host Life University on Tuesday Nov. 16. Saturday's game will start at 2 p.m. with Tuesday's tip-off slated for 7 p.m. The matchup on next Tuesday can be heard on the Mercer Sports Network (100.9 The Creek, SportsMic).

HOW TO FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.