Sliding Longhorns fall short in ‘classic battle’
Arkansas’ players were not born when the Razorbacks bolted the now-defunct Southwest Conference for the Southeastern Conference in 1991. That didn’t stop Arkansas coach Mike Anderson from offering a history lesson minutes before Saturday’s game between the two former league rivals at Toyota Center.
“A classic battle, Arkansas vs. Texas,” Anderson said. “Just like the days of the old Southwest Conference.” Free throw discrepancy
He was right, in terms of the outcome resembling so many of those games, as the Razorbacks defeated the Longhorns 77-74 in a throwback game that was decided at the free-throw line, where Arkansas converted 29-of-31 (93.5 percent) compared to 19-of-32 (59.4 percent) for Texas.
“That’s where we won the game,” Razorbacks guard Dusty Hannahs said. “In a three-point game, that was the biggest difference in the game.”
UT’s knockout occurred about three hours after Arizona took a 67-63 victory over Texas A&M, the Longhorns’ old SWC and Big 12 rival. The Aggies exited the Big 12 and joined the SEC in 2012.
Texas has lost five of its last seven games since starting 3-0.
“We’ve done some good things, but we haven’t been able to pull it out in the end,” Longhorns coach Shaka Smart said of close losses to Arkansas and Michigan away from the Erwin Center.
“When you lose, you must take a hard look at areas where you need to get better.”
The Razorbacks led 6562 with a little more than three minutes left when Arkansas’s Jaylen Barford drove the lane, drew a foul, made a short jumper and sank the ensuing free throw.
That gave the Razorbacks a 68-62 lead with 3:12 left, and Arkansas held Texas at bay the rest of the way as a final 3-point try by UT’s Kerwin Roach Jr. missed at the buzzer.
Asked how frustrated he is that the Longhorns are on a skid, forward Tevin Mack said a better word is “disappointed.”
“We could have easily won the game, as well as the Michigan game,” Mack said. “We just didn’t make the right plays down the stretch. … Practice is going to fix all of that.” UT bench of little help
The Razorbacks’ bench held a 30-4 advantage — the game’s most lopsided statistic — as the depleted and weary Longhorns failed to hold on to a 35-30 halftime lead.
“That was a big difference,” Smart said. “We didn’t play our bench as much as we normally do, and our bench didn’t play as well as it normally does. We need all hands on deck.”
Arkansas’s Daryl Macon, who made all 14 of his free throws, led all scorers with 23 points, while Mack led Texas with 20.
The Razorbacks hold an 87-67 edge in the all-time series after the first meeting in nearly six years between the two programs.
As for Anderson’s pregame speech?
“I didn’t grow up in the Southwest Conference, but I know the history and what it’s about,” Hannahs said. “Coach Anderson said this was one of the biggest rivalries in history.”