FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, Jaylen Barford and Anton Beard recap the win at Ole Miss and preview Saturday's game against Texas A&M:
Anton Beard and Jaylen Barford
AB: My ankle is feeling a lot better day by day. Tuesday I just made shots, and as a team I thought we played good. I'm 100 percent.
JB: We have to keep our defensive intensity for the whole game against Texas A&M this time around.
AB: We've got to try to crowd DJ Hogg and run him off the 3-point line.
JB: We've been staying engaged and holding each other accountable. If we keep our defense up then I think we're one of the best teams in the country.
AB: Tuesday was the best we've seen Darious play. That was pretty big for him. He brings a lot of energy to our team and really pumps us up.
AB: We've got to get in there and rebound. Texas A&M has some really athletic guys.
AB: The feeling that I only have three games left in Bud Walton Arena is there, but I want to make it a good stretch.
Mike Anderson
-Texas A&M has won four of its last five games, and lost to a hot Missouri team. Tyler Davis, Robert Williams, D.J. Hogg are big, but TJ Starks is completing them a little bit.
-They've got one of the bigger frontlines in the country, and beat us pretty bad on the glass at their place. We need to have a better performance Saturday. The Aggies have a +7.5 rebounding margin for the season.
-Our defense has been much better, and guys are paying much more attention to detail. Our guys are kind of on point with helping each other and we've done a better job defending the perimeter. I think our bench is involved and some guys aren't playing as many minutes as a result.
-Darious is playing well, and Gabe is too. It's the second, third, fourth and fifth efforts. Darious had 11 rebounds the other night and that's contagious.
-A&M is better than even when we played them. I think that was their coming out party against us. We're talking about it being won in the paint, getting to the free throw line. We've got to make the game as chaotic as we possibly can.
-Those guys that shoot the ball, you can't let them get going. The Starks kid did a good job against us. Tyler Davis had 11 offensive rebounds in the last meeting - 13 total.
-I think we're playing better than we were a month ago. We have more guys ready to play, and I'm trusting them to go play.
-Adrio Bailey is returning to practice today and we'll just see how that goes. "He had the bug run through him."
-Our crowd at home is always fantastic. I think it's worth 8-10 points. Arkansas is 41-5 in Bud Walton Arena on Saturdays under Mike Anderson.
-I want Daniel to go at his own pace, and be the best college player you can be. Guys like Trey, Gabe and Dustin Thomas all come in to play there. Daryl and Jaylen didn't have big nights scoring the ball at Ole Miss, but we had some other guys step up. When you're balanced it makes it difficult for teams to figure out who to guard.
-On TJ Starks: He has a high motor, making the 3-point shot and he's one of the reasons you're seeing that team come together.