FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Gardner-Webb (0-2) led by as many as six points with 6:46 remaining before halftime, but No. 16 Arkansas (2-0) countered with a 27-5 run into the break and pulled away for an 86-69 victory over the Runnin' Bulldogs in front of a sold-out crowd in Bud Walton Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Freshman guard
Julien Soumaoro shined in only his second-career game, pouring in five triples on 5-of-7 shooting to finish with a team-high 20 points. All five of his baskets on the afternoon came from 3-point land.
After only hitting on three attempts from long range in its season-opener, Gardner-Webb connected on 13 from downtown against the Razorbacks. Ten of those came in a second half in which the Runnin' Bulldogs shot 56% (14-for-25) overall from the field and 55.6% (10-of-18) from 3.
"Julien was great, and I thought he had a great mindset to the game," said Gardner-Webb head coach
Tim Craft. "He didn't look scared out there, and he played with a lot of confidence. It was great to see. It's one of the positives you can take away from the game is when a guy like him really builds some confidence for the future."
Juniors
Kareem Reid and
Lance Terry each finished with 16 points apiece. Reid shot 7-of-10 from the floor and set a new career high, while Terry knocked down 6-of-11 and added four 3-pointers.
"I thought Kareem played terrific against really, really big-time size. He made good decisions and he got himself into good shots. I also thought Lance played well. In fact, I thought he played very well. He played with confidence, so it was great to see him bounce back with a great game."
Overall, GWU shot a serviceable 45.3% (24-of-53) for the game. On the flip side, the high-powered Arkansas offense connected on 47.1% (32-of-68) of opportunities while shooting even better from beyond the arc at 48.1% (13-of-37).
Gardner-Webb hung strong for most of the first half, using an 8-0 run to surge to the lead with 12:39 left in the opening frame. Trailing by four, Soumaoro was fouled while knocking down his first triple from the corner, sending him to the line for a successful four-point play to even things up at 11-11.
Buckets from Reid and Terry followed, and the Runnin' Bulldogs pulled out to their first lead of the game, 15-11. Selden then hit from deep just minutes later, and Reid converted on a three-point play of his own, as the 'Dogs jumped ahead to its largest lead of the game with 6:46 to go in the first half, 21-15.
The nation's No. 16 quickly then quickly answered. Using a 14-0 run, the Razorbacks raced ahead and ultimately took a 16-point lead into the locker room, 42-26. Their good play continued to begin the second half, opening up a lead of as many as 31 points with 7:42 to play.
"They're a really good team, and it's a really difficult place to play," said Craft. "We got off to a good start, but we just had a stretch there in the first half where we got away from doing the things we needed to do to win and it got away from us. Then, Arkansas had a great start to the second half and got a big lead, but I do like the way we finished the game in terms of the last eight minutes really playing well. Hopefully we can walk out of the gym with some guys gaining some confidence."
Gardner-Webb did indeed regroup down the stretch, chipping away with 22 points in the final seven minutes to come within 19 points at the final horn.
"The message is we have to play better. We have to own our mistakes and learn from them when we watch the film. We'll need to keep our head up and put this one in the rearview mirror and get ready for the next one. We need to understand we just played a top-25 basketball team that's going to win a lot of games this year. I coached in the SEC for three years and that's a difficult place to win – Bud Walton Arena always has been."
Gardner-Webb's challenging three-game road trip to start the season will wrap up on Tuesday, Nov. 16 with its most challenging opponent yet in No. 9 Duke. The Runnin' Bulldogs and Blue Devils are set to tip off inside Cameron Indoor Stadium at 7 p.m.
