BASKETS, fouls come in bunches for Notae.

The University of Arkansas didn’t have its top scorer Monday on the floor for the last 13-plus minutes in an 81-72 loss to Baylor in the Elite Eight at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Guard JD Notae, the SEC’s sixth man of the year and the Razorbacks’ most effective scorer against the Bears, was gone in a flash after picking up his fourth and fifth fouls in a 20-second span in the second half.

Notae was having one of his better nights, with 12 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting and only 2 fouls at intermission.

But in the fast-paced game, Notae drew his final three fouls in the span of 1:44, leaving at the 13:38 mark on a charging call drawn by Baylor’s Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua on a close play on the left block.

Notae had just picked up a foul on the defensive end on a three-point play by Tchamwa Tchatchoua after an offensive rebound. Just before that, he was whistled for a foul on Davion Mitchell’s driving layup, leading to a three-point opportunity. Mitchell missed the free throw, leaving Baylor ahead 55-48 at the 15:22 mark.

“We needed him to play tonight,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “And, quite frankly, his dribble penetration, we were just going to see how long he could play out there. And then he picked up a fifth way too early.

“But I thought he played great offensively and certainly we needed him to play as many minutes as he could when he’s playing like he was tonight, because he had a good rhythm and flow to the game and kind of understood how their defense was playing him. Unfortunately, defensively, he just picked up way too many cheap fouls.”

Notae left with the Razorbacks trailing 58-48. He had a team-high 14 points at the time on 5-of-6 shooting, including 2 of 2 from threepoint range.

He had picked up more than three fouls in only three games all season, and had fouled out just once on Dec. 5 in a win over Lipscomb.

Mitchell’s moves

Baylor guard Davion Mitchell was limited to two points in nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.

The 6-2 guard with a lightning-fast first step made up for it in the second half. He drove past one Razorback defender after another to create layups, draw fouls and dish to teammates on the wings to help the Bears keep Arkansas at bay in the second half.

Mitchell drew fouls against or scored on guards Jalen Tate, JD Notae and Davonte Davis, who guarded him the most. But Arkansas switched a lot of screens up top, leaving forwards Justin Smith and Ethan Henderson on the speed merchant.

In one quick burst in the second half, Mitchell drove on Smith and drew his fourth foul, then took Henderson down the left side of the lane and converted a layup.

“Davion Mitchell is one of the fastest guys I’ve ever guarded, especially this year,” Arkansas guard Jalen Tate said. “He’s definitely a tough cover. You can tell they’re a completely different team with him out there on both sides of the ball.”

Mitchell finished with 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting, but was 0 for 3 from the freethrow line.

Taming Moses

Baylor kept Arkansas’ leading scorer Moses Moody, the SEC newcomer of the year, from going off Monday.

Moody finished 2 of 10, including 0 of 4 from threepoint range, and had an 11-point game that included 7 of 8 at the free-throw line. Moody shot 6 for 30 (20%) in the Razorbacks’ final two games against Oral Roberts and Baylor.

“Probably just the defense really keying on him,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said to explain Moody’s late struggles. “A major part of opponents’ scouting reports. That’s probably what I would attribute it to.”

Moody had one point at halftime on 0-of-2 shooting. The freshman, projected as a first-round NBA Draft pick, missed his first three shots of the second half before scooping up a loose ball and putting in a 2-footer with 11:02 remaining to cut Arkansas’ deficit to 62-54.

Arkansas guard Jalen Tate called Moody “a once-in-alifetime” teammate to play with this season.

Desi’s trigger

The Razorbacks got a transition basket in a most unusual fashion to pull within four points midway through the second half.

Arkansas guard Desi Sills jumped way out of bounds on the defensive baseline to save a ball that had last touched a teammate. Two Baylor players were in position on the baseline to snag Sills’ save, but the hard pass caromed off their hands to the Hogs’ Davonte Davis.

He corralled it and fired a long outlet pass to a racing Moses Moody for a layup to cut Baylor’s lead to 62-58 with 9:34 to play.

Sizzling start

Arkansas got a stop on only one of Baylor’s first seven possessions to fall behind 15-3, making it four out of four NCAA Tournament games in which the Razorbacks trailed by 10 or more points.

The only possession that did not wind up with points out of the Bears’ first seven trips came on a missed jumper by Mark Vital, which Vital cleaned off the glass.

Baylor’s largest lead in the first half was 18 points at 29-11 on a free throw by Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua at the 11:01 mark.

“I think they came out hot,” Arkansas guard Jalen Tate said. “They’re a confident group. They’re an older group.”

The Bears started two seniors and three juniors, while Arkansas started two seniors and three freshmen.

Hot shots

Arkansas hit 15 of 24 shots in the first half for a sizzling 62.5% shooting. However, Baylor wasn’t far behind at 56.3%, and the Bears capitalized on the Hogs’ 10 turnovers by leading 14-6 in points off of turnovers.

Losing to 1

The Razorbacks have now lost 10 games against No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, starting with a 73-71 setback against No. 1 Indiana State in 1979 and finishing with Monday’s 81-72 loss to Baylor.

The other losses to top seeds: 72-56 to LSU in 1981; 65-63 to Louisville in 1983; 6865 to St. John’s in 1985; 80-74 to North Carolina in 1993; 8978 to UCLA in the national championship game in 1995; 79-63 to UMass in 1996; 10877 to North Carolina in 2008; and 72-65 to North Carolina in 2017.

SWC reunion

The former Southwest Conference will be represented by two teams in the Final Four and is guaranteed to have an exmember in the national championship game.

Baylor’s 81-72 win over Arkansas put the Bears in their first Final Four since 1950. Baylor advanced to play Houston, which eliminated Oregon State 67-61 in the early game Monday to reach its first Final Four since making three in a row from 1982-84 during the “Phi Slama Jama” era under Coach Guy Lewis.

Sills

Notae