FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas guard Rickey Scott didn’t look at the stat sheet before offering an opinion about his own performance during the 91-68 win against Oakland on Wednesday night.
The sophomore felt like he had a bad night.
It was a harsh self assessment considering the 6-foot-3 Scott stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in 27 minutes. But the sophomore can’t help himself.
“That’s just me,” Scott said. “I come down hard on myself. I shouldn’t, but I just do.”
Scott may not be living up to his own lofty expectations, but Arkansas (2-0) certainly is impressed by his performance after two games.
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Scott, who operates at a break-neck speed, is being counted on to push the pace as a point guard for Mike Anderson’s up-tempo attack and has done a good job so far this season.
The Razorbacks hope it continues, too, when they play Houston (2-0) in North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena tonight. Scott should be in the starting lineup for the third straight game and his performance is key to Arkansas’ success.
“Rickey, when he pushes that ball and he gets in the open court, he’s as fast as any guard,” Anderson said Wednesday night. “We’ve had some great guards here at Arkansas, but what he’s doing at this point is pretty remarkable.”
Scott, a Texas native, showed flashes of being an impact player under former coach John Pelphrey last season. But Scott was sidetracked by injuries that kept him out of 18 games.
He averaged 3.3 points and 1.1 rebounds when he did play. It included a season-high eight points in Arkansas’ win against Seton Hall.
So being healthy is a welcome change.
“Just being healthy is amazing,” Scott said. “Last year I did go through a lot. I struggled with my foot injury, my knee.”
But he also has found new life as a point man in Anderson’s system. Arkansas plans to run plenty of players at point guard this season (like Julysses Nobles, BJ Young and Mardracus Wade), but there’s no doubt Scott’s sprints are proof he’s the team’s quickest guard.
“It’s not that he’s pushing and he’s out of control,” Anderson said. “He’s under control and finding the right people at the right time.”
There was plenty of proof Wednesday, when Scott was a catalyst in Arkansas’ big first half against Oakland. He got out on the break, found teammates running open and got them the ball for layups or dunks. He got himself a few buckets, too, including a crowd-pleasing dunk.
Scott didn’t get much playing time in the point guard role for the Hogs last season. But he’s enjoying his time at the position right now.
“I love it,” Scott said after Arkansas’ exhibition win on Nov. 11. “That’s what I played since I was little. … So I love it.”
Arkansas is enjoying the benefits as well.
Scott enters tonight’s game second on the team in scoring (10.5 points), rebounds (5.5), assists (3.5) and minutes (26 a game). He leads Arkansas in steals (four), too, proof he’s playing well — whether or not he agrees.
“I feel blessed just to come out here and be as energetic as I could be,” Scott said after the Oakland win.