Wagner playing “ confident ” while the razorbacks enter the playoffs
Arkansas’ second-year goalkeeper DJ Wagner had big shoes to fill when the first-year Boogie Flande was injured in the thumb in January, but now he plays part of the best ball of his career while the Razorbacks (19-12, 8-10 sec) enter the series.
The first year Hog Guard scored two figures in five of its last six games and exploded for a 24 -point summit in the regular season of the Hogs against the state of Mississippi on Saturday.
Arkansas’ head coach Kenny Payne met the media on Monday and said that a large part of Wagner’s high game is because he doesn’t think about the game too much.
“What I personally see in DJ is that he plays confident,” said Payne. “He did not become what he does. I called him the other evening and I said,” Dj, tell me what it was doing. What do you look like the earth? … And he said to me: “You know, Uncle Kenny, I just felt that I was reacting to everything that defense gave me, and I did not think too much.
Wagner’s assistance numbers have also seen a jump in his last six games because he reached an average of 3.5 over this period. This is a number lower than Fland has produced before its injury, but it should be noted that the level of competition has been higher for Wagner.
Although he is not known as a Deep elite shooter, the three -point threat of Wagner has increased, which adds another threat to the opposite defenses to take into account. He had three three points against the state of the Mississippi and two against Vanderbilt in the match before, one of which came from the line with the end of the shooting.
If these three were not enough to show Wagner’s improved deep shot, he struck another pocket against the state of the Mississippi. After the Hogs wasted an advance of 16 points at the end of the match, he drained a triple from the top of the key to a game outside the reference limits that put Arkansas, 92-89.
The state of the Mississippi responded next time to the ground with a three of Josh Hubbard, but the Arkansas was just enough to escape with the victory.
“It was really like instincts, knowing that my teammates trusted me,” said Wagner after the victory. “They had confidence in me, which made me more confident knowing that everyone trusted me to get a blow like that. So, that’s really what the coach said. As if the room does not work, go for it and go try to play.”
During the season, Wagner accumulated a percentage of 32.4% in three points, but this number increased to 39.1% (9 out of 23) in its last five games.
The Arkansas will need Wagner to be at the best at that time if he hopes to do an after-season race and make the magic of March.
The Razorbacks will face the South Carolina in the first round of the SEC tournament on Wednesday. Tipoff is defined for Midi CT and it will be broadcast on the dry network.
