University of Arkansas guard JD Notae wasn't feeling well Friday night, but you never would have known considering how he played against Missouri.
Notae scored 27 points in 32 minutes off the bench to lead the No. 8 Razorbacks to a 70-64 victory over the Tigers in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
Arkansas (22-5) won its ninth consecutive game -- and 12th consecutive against an SEC opponent -- to advance to play LSU in the semifinals about 2:30 p.m. today.
It was the most points Notae has scored in his first season playing for Arkansas after transferring form Jacksonville (Fla.) University and redshirting last year.
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"He threw up at one point [in the first half], and then he did it again at halftime," Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said. "We didn't know if he was going to come out and play the second half."
The main thing for Arkansas was that Notae kept throwing up shots. He hit 9 of 16 from the field, including 4 of 7 three-pointers, and 5 of 6 free throws.
"JD was phenomenal," Musselman said. "He carried us. Obviously, he's a shot creator."
Notae's most creative basket put Arkansas ahead 65-60 with 1:19 left when he lost the ball in the lane, got it back and tossed it off the backboard as the shot clock was about to expire.
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"That's a JD Notae bucket," Arkansas freshman guard Davonte Davis said. "That's what we call it. I mean, he gets it done. We see it at practice, and we know he can do things like that, so it's nothing special."
It was a critical score with the Razorbacks clinging to a three-point lead.
"Huge, huge basket for us without question," Musselman said. "But that's what he is. He's a guy that makes these shots that you sit there and say, 'No, no, no, no, no. Oh, good shot.'
"It happens all the time, and you've got to kind of live with giving him a lot of freedom to take those shots."
Notae's previous scoring high this season was 22 points against the University of Central Arkansas and at LSU, but his career high is 40 against Florida Memorial during his sophomore season at Jacksonville.
"I feel like I played all right," said Notae, who was voted SEC sixth man of the year by the conference coaches. "I had a few too many turnovers [five], but we got the win. That's all I really care about.
"We want to win every game, and we especially didn't want to go home after the first one."
Notae scored 16 points in the first half. That was half of the Razorbacks' total as they trailed the Tigers 33-32.
"I thought he was awesome offensively in the first half," Musselman said. "We needed his points."
Notae scored 12 points -- capped by back-to-back three-point baskets -- during a 16-0 Arkansas run that put the Razorbacks ahead 29-23.
"He hit two deep threes early," Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin said. "I think that really got him going. That got his confidence up. He's a confidence scorer. They went through him. He made plays."
Arkansas senior forward Justin Smith had 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists. He also played tough defense that helped the Razorbacks hold Missouri 6-10 senior Jeremiah Tilmon to nine points without a rebound before he fouled out with 5:26 left.
Tilmon had 25 points and 11 rebounds in the Tigers' 81-68 victory at Arkansas -- when Smith was out recovering from ankle surgery -- then he didn't play in the Razorbacks' 86-81 overtime victory at Missouri because of a death in his family.
"Really proud of us double blocking out and not just relying on one person to try to block him out, because he's such a great player," Musselman said. "We did a great job of just limiting his touches as well."
Davis had 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. He hit 2 of 4 free throws in the final 16.6 seconds to seal the victory.
Arkansas freshman guard Moses Moody, an All-SEC first-team pick who came into the game averaging 17.5 points, was held to five. But he had eight rebounds.
"They did a phenomenal job on Moses," Musselman said. "You could tell that their game plan was to limit Moses' touches.
"That's one game that Moses didn't score the ball a lot, but I thought he did a lot of other things for us from a defensive standpoint, from a rebounding standpoint."
Junior guard Xavier Pinson led Missouri (16-9) with 14 points after he combined for 46 points in two regular-season games against Arkansas. Senior guard Dru Smith added 11 points for the Tigers.
Missouri forward Mitchell Smith, a senior from Van Buren, went scoreless and fouled out while playing just 10 minutes.
The teams combined for 41 turnovers -- 21 by the Tigers and 20 by the Razorbacks -- and Arkansas had a 26-20 edge in points off of turnovers.
"To win this many games in a row, particularly at this time of the year is overly, overly difficult," Musselman said. "Having said that, we played well enough to win."
Moody put Arkansas ahead for good 50-49 on a three-point play -- he hit a basket in the lane as he was falling backward and added a free throws -- with 9:09 left.
The Razorbacks pushed their lead to 60-50, but Missouri cut its deficit to 63-60 at the 1:48 mark on two free throws by Kobe Brown.
Then came Notae's basket off the backboard.
"A loose ball, he got it, put it up," Martin said. "That was a tough one right there."
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 22-5, Missouri 16-9
STARS Arkansas junior guard JD Notae (27 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists), senior forward Justin Smith (16 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists) and freshman guard Davonte Davis (11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists). Missouri junior guard Xavier Pinson (14 points)
KEY STAT The Razorbacks outscored the Tigers 26-20 on points off turnovers.
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