COLLEGE BASKETBALL / DAILY REPORT

Arkansas is expected to turn its “40 minutes of hell” press loose on Smith’s thin North Carolina backcourt.

Smith, a master at working the officials and who doesn’t insist on waiting for game time to start, said it shouldn’t get beyond 40 minutes of heck.

“One of the reasons we have the NCAA officiating committee put in force is to create uniform officiating throughout the country,” Smith said.

“And basketball is still a hard game to officiate, but it says if I’m shooting or passing and you hit my arm and I have the ball, it’s a foul. It’s still in the rule book. You still expect it to be called.”

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Jerry Stackhouse started hearing comparisons to Michael Jordan when he was in high school, and it’s getting old.

When the inevitable comparison came up Friday, Stackhouse, grinned and rolled his eyes.

“I have to take it as a compliment,” Stackhouse said. “I think everybody knows Michael Jordan is the greatest player. For people to think we have some things in common gives me a lot of encouragement and a lot of confidence. But I still think I have my own style of playing. I think we do some things similar, but basically it’s almost a total different game.”