Hogs lose ranking
No more whining about the disrespect of not being ranked.
And no more whining about officiating. At least not this time.
Arkansas fans now face the fact that their Razorbacks, after cracking last week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll clear up to No. 22, just went 0-2 in a pair of road games in the Southeastern Conference. The Hogs (11-4, 1-2) lost 78-75 last Tuesday to the Mississippi State Bulldogs (13-2, 1-1) in Starkville, Miss., and 88-77 Saturday to the Auburn Tigers
(14-1, 2-0) in Auburn, Ala. The Razorbacks plummeted out of this week’s rankings released on Monday.
Regarding officiating, it seemed that Arkansas had a legitimate beef with Mississippi State going to the line to attempt 40 free throws the the Razorbacks’ 12, but no road team will gripe about attempting 19 free throws to the home team’s 22 happening at Auburn. Any Arkansas foul trouble seemed of its own making.
Outstanding 6-11 freshman Daniel Gafford, of El Dorado, amassed three of his four fouls reaching on the perimeter. Gafford finished the game with eight points, four rebounds and a blocked shot in 17 minutes.
“Daniel was effective, but he got some of those touch fouls,” Anderson said. “He has to learn.”
Some facts must be faced. SEC fans wanted a better basketball league. They’ve got it. This season’s SEC is so tough that the preseason SEC-favored Texas A&M Aggies, 0-3 in the SEC, are the only winless team in league play.
Coach Ben Howland’s Mississippi State Bulldogs, 16-16 overall last season, and coach Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers,
18-14 last season, appear vastly improved. It is a tough league from top to bottom, making every road victory precious and taking care of home a must. Taking care of SEC home games is Arkansas’ task this week.
The Razorbacks will host the LSU Tigers (10-4, 1-1) at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Bud Walton Arena and on the SEC Network (Resort Channel 79). They will then host the Missouri Tigers (11-4, 1-1) at 5 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2 (Resort Channel 29).
To take care of home, Anderson and his Razorbacks first must evaluate what happened on the road. Pearl’s Tigers turned in some defensive gems during their 47-30 first half.
“We talked about coming into an emotional, charged up crowd,” Anderson said. “You’ve got just to withstand
that first five minutes, and they came out, and they could not miss, and it just seemed we were on our heels. But credit them.”
“Arkansas is so good that we knew that we could play well tonight and not win, but we played so well in the first half and built ourselves a terrific lead,” Pearl said. “In the first half I thought we dictated defensively, and that was the big difference.”
It was a difference the Razorbacks could not make up, but they sure tried.
“They came out and threw the first punch, but credit our guys in the second half,” Anderson said. “We came out, and we punched back.”
Their comeback shot proved too long a shot hitting but 4 of 19 threes to Auburn’s
11 of 20.
“They are going to beat a lot of people here because they are such an energy team,” Anderson said post-game Saturday at Auburn Arena. “When they make shots, it makes it difficult. We made
4 of 19 threes tonight, and we are a much better shooting team than that. But we did the other little things to give ourselves a chance.”
Auburn gained renown for its rebounding, but Arkansas claimed the boards, 35-30.
“I know people look at our team and think we don’t rebound, but we rebounded tonight,” Anderson said. “It kept us in the second half.”
Arkansas’ bench, big in the Razorbacks’ 10-2 nonconference start but outplayed by the Tennessee and Mississippi State reserves, held its own against Auburn. Freshman reserve Darious Hall, of Little Rock Mills, looked promising in non-conference play, but definitely did not look ready for SEC prime time at home against Tennessee (10-4, 1-2) in Arkansas’ conference opener. Hall played poised at Auburn, grabbing six rebounds and scoring seven points, including 3 of 3 from the field.
“Darious Hall came out and played with his heart,” Anderson said.
So did Trey Thompson, the 6-9 senior and Forrest City grad. Thompson played
23 minutes at Auburn to Gafford’s 17, not just because of Gafford’s foul trouble, but because Thompson was the more effective player. He netted eight points, six rebounds, two assists and a steal.
“He can do more than just pass the basketball,” Anderson said of Thompson’s surprising big man’s gift for assists. “We want him to be a threat. He has a high basketball IQ and knocked down a couple of big free throws while we we were making our run, and we have got to continue to have that.”