Darian Townes

Townes had a breakout game today, using his physical assets to make an impact both offensively and defensively. While he may not have much in the way of skills, Townes has great size and strength. He won’t show much with his back to the basket, or from the midrange, but today he did a good job getting position underneath the basket and finding ways to get layups and trips to the foul line. Defensively, Townes showed good rebounding ability, but is still a work in progress defensively. He doesn’t show very good anticipation, making it hard for him to track down rebounds and block shots. His size makes him productive nonetheless, but he still has a long way to go. Raw big men usually struggle in this setting, getting taken advantage of by more skilled players, but Townes did a great job staying active today despite not getting many touches. He did some good for his stock overseas with this performance.

Had a great game as Arkansas fought for their postseason lives against Vanderbilt, leading his team to a win with 18 points and 7 rebounds, most of them scored by sheer athleticism, determination, and touch around the basket. Townes has struggled to establish consistency in both production and minutes in his four years at Arkansas, never really putting the complete package together, despite showing nice athleticism, size, and a groundwork of skills in the post, consisting of hook shots and turnaround jumpers. Townes will be fighting for his prospect life, and possibly his team’s NCAA Tournament hopes, today against Tennessee, though it’d be very surprising to see him not get the invite to Portsmouth in early April. Continued strong play is very important to his future chances, though, as he has four years of underwhelming play to make up for, and he could use every chance to do that, be it a postseason game or a pre-draft camp.