Arkansas crushed by No. 12 Tennessee, 75-57
The Arkansas Razorbacks (19-11, 8-9) committed self-inflicted wounds, missed too many free throws and struggled to score often in a 75-57 loss at No. 12 Tennessee (22-8, 11-6) on Tuesday evening in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Arkansas turned the ball over 16 times and shot 36.7% from the field against the nation's No. 1 team in defensive efficiency. The Volunteers scored 42 points in the paint compared to 18 by the Hogs, and their bench outscored Arkansas' by 13.
Freshman point guard Anthony Black turned the ball over six times in the contest, which tied his season-high. Fellow freshman Nick Smith Jr. scored a 12 points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field and a 1-of-6 performance from behind the arc.
All but three of Arkansas' 57 points came from its guards. Jordan Walsh scored one point on a free throw and Makhi Mitchell hit a pair of free throws to complete the scoring from the Hogs' front court.
Here's a recap of Tuesday's game, which put the Hogs back under .500 in SEC play.
Not even three minutes into the game, the Volunteers saw star sophomore Zakai Zeigler go down with a non-contact injury to his left knee that ended his evening.
After just over seven straight minutes of play, the Hogs trailed by just three despite the face that they had five turnovers, six fouls and just four made shots.
Arkansas cut it to a 17-15 Tennessee lead on a pair of Makhi Mitchell free throws with 7:43 to play in the first half, but the Volunteers responded with a 9-2 run over the next 2:44 to go up by nine. The Razorbacks were settling for jump shots and way too many threes, resulting in missed shots and opportunities for Tennessee to gain even more momentum on the other end, which it often did.
Ricky Council IV drew his third foul of the game with 3:11 left in the first half, prompting Eric Musselman to take the scoring threat of Council out and turn to freshman Derrian Ford, who played the remainder of the half.
Despite turning the ball over 10 times, fouling 11 times and hitting just 37.5% of their shots from the field in the first half, the Razorbacks managed to keep the deficit at nine, as they trailed 35-24 at halftime. Tennessee dominated in the paint, scoring 24 points down low compared to eight by the Hogs, who needed to do more of what the Vols were doing.
Black's sixth turnover of the game turned into a Tennessee dunk that put it up by 11 and forced Musselman to call a timeout just over a minute into the second half. By that point, the Vols had more steals (10) than the Hogs had made shots (9).
Arkansas managed to stick around despite the Volunteers blowing by defenders with ease. A Council three cut the Tennessee lead to 43-34 and the Vols recorded their fourth foul of the half moments later going into the first media timeout of the second half.
An 11-4 run by Tennessee gave it a 15-point lead at the under-12 timeout, and the Vols were beneficiary's of a few questionable calls at the point, one of which Musselman argued for a good portion of the previously mentioned timeout.
Davis knocked down a three, gained a steal and made a transition layup to cut the Tennessee lead to 58-46 with 7:59 to play. The Vols went on a 5-0 run after the under-8 minute media timeout to grow their lead to 17.
Arkansas didn't hit a field goal over the next 6:22 and Tennessee was able to grow its lead to 72-50 during that span. A jumper from Davis helped the Hogs cut the final score to 75-57, but it really felt like they lost by more than that.
Up next, the Razorbacks will wrap up their regular season by hosting the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. CT on CBS.
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