With the Razorbacks shorthanded in the absence of freshman guard Boogie Fland, Arkansas forward Adou Thiero put his cape on for late-game heroics in the 68-65 win over Georgia on Wednesday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
Thiero in transition was the only offense going early on for the Razorbacks, who took a 7-6 lead with 14:16 left in the first half and then didn't lead again until there were less than five minutes left in regulation.
VIDEO: Calipari, players postgame - Arkansas 68, Georgia 65
With just 30 seconds remaining on the clock, Theiro drove to the middle of the lane, absorbed contact and put up a jumper that went through the net to give Arkansas a 65-63 lead.
After the Bulldogs tied it with a pair of free throws, Thiero drew a foul with 1.8 seconds remaining on the other end. He hit the first shot to put Arkansas ahead, missed the second, grabbed the rebound and laid in a basket at the buzzer to secure the 3-point win.
Thiero finished with a team-high 17 points and he added 11 rebounds in the double-double effort. He also had one assist and one steal in the game, which was the Hogs' first win in Southeastern Conference play.
"Having to deal with a lot of outside noise, everybody saying we’re soft, we don’t rebound, so we had to buckle up and really get to it," Thiero said postgame. "I’d say also, having Boogie (Fland) out, we had to realize that we got to step up, each one of us. He’s a big part of our team and we got to do other little things to help us win. Everybody stepped up today and we were able to do that."
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Arkansas shot just 31.0% from the field and 13.0% from three in the game, but it was effort on the offensive glass and following through at the charity stripe that made the difference. The Hogs out-rebounded their first SEC opponent this season (40-30) and 18 of those were offensive rebounds that helped produce 33 second chance points.
"The biggest thing in this game is we out-rebounded them by 10," head coach John Calipari said postgame. "Now that’s one of the best rebounding teams, offensively especially, in the country. So for us to go do that just tells you we’re not that far, just go."
Thiero pulled five of his 11 rebounds off the offensive glass and he also made seven of his nine shots at the free throw line. It sounds like he, and the rest of the team, took this game personally.
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"We had to take pride," Thiero said. "Word around the SEC, you know, we’re soft. They’re going to try to come here and punk us. Nah. We had to fix that and show we have fight in us. You’re not going to come in here and punk us around, no matter what."
Arkansas will have another opportunity to defend Nolan Richardson Court at Bud Walton Arena on Saturday when the Oklahoma Sooners (14-4, 1-4 SEC) come to Fayetteville. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. CT on ESPN.
