UA’s NCAA goals begin with Vandy
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — When the University of Arkansas basketball team opened SEC play against Texas A&M in Walton Arena on Jan. 4, a preseason media poll in which the Razorbacks were picked to finish 11th in the conference looked foolish.
The Razorbacks were off to an 11-1 start, including road victories at Georgia Tech and Indiana. Their only loss was in overtime at Western Kentucky.
Arkansas looked to be far better than the SEC’s 11thplace team.
But in the end, after closing the regular-season schedule with a 77-69 loss at Texas A&M on Saturday in Reed Arena, the media poll was on target.
The Razorbacks finished 11th in the SEC.
Arkansas (19-12, 7-11) is the No. 11 seed in the SEC Tournament and opens against
No. 14 seed Vanderbilt (11-20, 3-15) at approximately 8:30 p.m. Central on Wednesday in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The Arkansas-Vanderbilt game will tip off 30 minutes after the end of the Georgia-Ole Miss SEC Tournament opener, which starts at 6 p.m.
The Arkansas-Vanderbilt winner will advance to play No. 6 seed South Carolina (1813, 10-8) at approximately 8:30 p.m. Thursday.
“I think we’ve had some really good play and some play that we’d like to get back,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said looking back on the regular season. “A lot of those close losses. Now we have to go play a game in the SEC Tournament and see what happens.”
The Razorbacks are 4-6 in games decided by four or fewer points or which went into overtime.
If Arkansas was 6-4 in those games, the Razorbacks would be 21-10 and likely in solid shape for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid.
Instead, Arkansas likely needs to win the SEC Tournament to earn an automatic bid to play in the NCAA Tournament.
The Razorbacks beat Vanderbilt 75-55 in Walton Arena on Jan. 15 to improve to 14-2 overall and 3-1 in the SEC and set up a highly anticipated matchup at home against Kentucky.
Kentucky, which won the SEC title with a 15-3 record, rallied to win 83-77 after trailing by three points with less than nine minutes left after Coach John Calipari had been called for two technical fouls and ejected.
That was the start of a what became a 4-10 finish for the Razorbacks in the regular season.
Arkansas was 0-5 with sophomore guard Isaiah Joe out of the lineup as he recovered from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.
Two of those losses without Joe were in overtime to Auburn 79-76 at home and at Missouri 83-79. It was the first time in the 97-year history of the Arkansas program that the Razorbacks lost back-to-back games in overtime.
Arkansas also lost to Mississippi State 78-77 in Walton Arena on a last-second tip-in basket by Ado Abdul and had its two most-lopsided losses of the season — 82-61 at Tennessee and 73-59 at Florida — during Joe’s recovery period.
The Razorbacks lost to the Gators on the road for the 14th consecutive time. They haven’t won at Florida since 1995.
Arkansas is 3-2 with Joe since he returned to the lineup. Overall the Razorbacks 18-7 with Joe, who sat out Arkansas’ 78-67 victory over TCU before it was decided he should undergo surgery.
Joe was knocked to the floor at the end of the first half against Texas A&M on Saturday and came up limping as the Razorbacks headed to the locker room, but he played in the second half and finished with 22 points.
“I just got roughed up a little bit,” Joe said. “But I’m fine.”
Junior guard Mason Jones led Arkansas with 30 points. It was the ninth time he has scored 30 or more points this season.
“We’ve just got to do what we’ve got to do, one game at a time,” Jones said of the SEC Tournament. “Vanderbilt is the next game on the schedule, so we’ve got to get ready for them.”
It’s the first time the Razorbacks will have to play on Wednesday night since the SEC Tournament expanded to five days in 2013 with the addition of Missouri and Texas A&M to the conference.
The Aggies (16-14, 10-8) took a 60-50 lead on the Razorbacks on Savion Flagg’s three-pointer with 8:54 left.
Joe’s three-pointer at the 4:10 mark pulled Arkansas within 65-60, but the Razorbacks couldn’t get any closer.
“No matter how bad we get down, we never give up,” Joe said. “When we get ourselves into a hole, we try to dig our way out. Coming down the stretch we weren’t going to give up.”