Arkansas senior forward Michael Sanchez and the Razorbacks are a perfect 15-0 at Bud Walton this season and face Vanderbilt there Tuesday night. Last season, Sanchez had a career-high 20 points while shooting 8 for 12 from the field in the Hogs upset of then ranked No. 19 Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn. Photo by Logan Webster.
Vanderbilt is one of the hottest teams in the Southeastern Conference, having won 11 of its last 12 games and enters the game ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press poll.
A season ago, Arkansas senior forward Michael Sanchez teamed with former Razorback Rotnei Clarke to form the hottest duo on the court when the Hogs traveled to Nashville, Tenn., and upset then No. 19 ranked Vanderbilt 89-78.
Sanchez had a career night, dropping 20 points on the Commodores.
“I have the tape at home and it is in my DVD player right now,” Sanchez said. “It was a great game and I really enjoyed it. The best part about it was, not my individual performance, but we went into a tough environment and took the W away from them.”
Sanchez and Clarke combined to shoot 20-of-28 from the floor as the Razorbacks knocked off their only ranked opponent of the season.
“It was crazy because we didn’t do anything different that day,” Sanchez said. “We just prepared for that game and it just happened to work out.”
Mike Anderson, in his first season as Arkansas head coach of Arkansas, said he watched the film of Sanchez against Vanderbilt shortly after getting hired.
“I saw it when I first got here, and he did a good job,” Anderson said. “He was making some plays and finishing some plays. (Delvon) Johnson got in some foul trouble and I thought Mike was allowed to go out and play and had a career night. Hopefully it is something he can reproduce.”
As Arkansas prepares to host Vanderbilt as part of ESPN’s Super Tuesday college basketball broadcast, Sanchez said he thinks he can have similar success this year as well.
“I try to look at every game like that,” Sanchez said about repeat success. “With this team though, roles are a lot different this year. Coach really talks about everyone’s role and figuring out what you do best out there. I think that game last year was something I had to do for us to win.”
Vanderbilt boasts the SEC’s top scorer in junior guard John Jenkins, and one of the best low-post defenders in senior Festus Ezeli. Jenkins comes into the game averaging 20.0 points and is connecting on 44.3 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Ezeli, who has played in just 11 games for the Commodores this season due to suspension and injury, is 6-foot-11, 255 pounds and averaging 8.5 points and 6.6 rebounds.
“He is such a big target,” Anderson said of Ezeli. “He is a fifth-year year, and he may have redshirted, so he is a man more than anything else. When you talk about a guy who is that tall and athletic and demands your attention because he posts up real deep into the paint, he knows how to finish.”
With Arkansas already without junior forward Marshawn Powell and with senior forward Marvell Waithe still unavailable due to calf injury, the Razorbacks are down to just three forwards on the roster to match up against Ezeli.
“We know he is a big guy with a big presence,” Sanchez said. “He is very skilled and we will have to keep him off the glass.”
Arkansas remains a perfect 15-0 at home playing at Bud Walton, but Vanderbilt is 4-1 on the road this season with wins at Marquette and Alabama. Arkansas freshman and leading scorer averaging 14.4 points per game, BJ Young, thinks the preparation for the Commodores will be the key.
“Hopefully we will translate everything we do in practice on Monday over to the court Tuesday,” Young said. “We are just going to try and have a big win. We are going to close out hard on shooters, gang rebound as a team and try to limit them to one shot.”