Arkansas bounced by Butler, 79-62
No. 7 Arkansas had a lackluster start and a finish that was almost as bad as the Hogs fell to No. 10 Butler in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday afternoon in Little Caesar’s Arena in Detroit, 79-62.
The Razorbacks trailed 21-2 with 13:44 to play in the first half before clawing back with a 27-6 burst to take a 29-27 lead with 4:55 to play. It was Arkansas’ only lead of the game. Butler took a 36-31 advantage into halftime and outscored the Hogs 17-9 the first 7 minutes and 31 seconds of the second half to take a 53-40 lead with 12:29 to play in the game.
Arkansas cut Butler’s lead to 5 points, 56-51, on a driving layup by Jaylen Barford with 8:07 to play in the game, but that is as close as Arkansas would get the rest of the day. The Bulldogs slowly extended their lead and outscored the Razorbacks 23-11 the rest of the way.
Led by 27 points and 7 rebounds from Kelan Martin and 24 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists from Kamar Baldwin, Butler connected on 29 of 54 field goal attempts (49.2 percent), 11 of 25 3-point attempts (44 percent) and 10 of 12 attempts from the free throw line (83.3 percent). The Bulldogs dominated Arkansas on the glass 40-24.
The only major area Arkansas won was forced turnovers with a 14-7 advantage. With 15 points from Barford, 12 from Daryl Macon and 7 points and 4 rebounds from Daniel Gafford, Arkansas was just 20 of 56 shooting (35.7 percent), 4 of 18 from deep (22.2 percent) and 18 of 23 from the free throw line (78.3 percent). It was the final game for six Razorback seniors (not including the dismissed Dustin Thomas).
FIRST HALF
The Hogs started off just 1 of 11 from the floor, and on the other end Butler was 8 of 11 as the Bulldogs raced to a 19-point lead, 21-2 with 13:44 to play in the first half. The game started off 3-2 for Butler, and then it was an 18-0 run for the Bulldogs over a span of 4 minutes and 24 seconds.
Arkansas was still down 14 points, 27-13, with 7:39 to play at the under-eight media timeout. Arkansas was just 5 of 17 from the floor, having hit four of their last six attempts, while Butler cooled off to 10 of 21, knocking down 2 of their last 10.
Arkansas battled back with an impressive 16-0 run inside of a 27-6 stretch to make it a 2-point Razorback lead, 27-29 with 4:55 to play. Butler had fallen all the way to 11 of 28 from the floor at that point having hit just 2 of their last 17 field goal attempts.
Butler led the Hogs 36-31 at halftime. The Bulldogs were 41.2 percent from the floor in the first half on 14 of 34 shooting, including 6 of 13 from beyond the arc (46.2 percent). Arkansas was