Arkansas exploded in the second half to run away from Vanderbilt 84-48 and clinch a top-10 seed in the SEC Tournament, avoiding having to play in the opening round..
Wednesday night’s game was a tale of two halves. The teams exchanged bricks and turnovers for the first 20 minutes of the contes and then Arkansas nearly doubled its first half production in the second, scoring 55 points on a blistering 65.6 percent shooting.
Vanderbilt did not follow suit, though, turning in an even worse second half performance.
Before the Hogs could sprint through Memorial Gymnasium, they had to limp through an ugly opening stretch. Arkansas did not score for the first 3:19 of the game, a drought that ended when Isaiah Joe drilled a deep ball to tie the game at three.
The Razorbacks struggled to protect the basketball and couldn’t put together a string of made baskets for much of the first 10 minutes. By the under-12 media timeout, Arkansas had hit just three of 10 field goal attempts and had five turnovers. Vanderbilt put up 15 shots in that span and made six of them to build a 15-7 lead.
Arkansas began eating into that lead, holding Vanderbilt without a point for over six minutes. Daniel Gafford scored a quick five points on a layup and fastbreak dunk to pull the Hogs to within two by the time the under-8 timeout rolled around.
Gafford then tied the game at 19 on the other side of the break with a pair of free throws. The shooting numbers of the two teams began to flip spectrums as the Commodores dipped below 30 percent with 6:14 left in the first half.
Arkansas took its first lead and then some with a 14-0 run while the Vanderbilt offense turned the ball over six times during its long scoring drought.
Vanderbilt coach Bryce Drew was forced to use two timeouts within a minute from each other as the drought lasted until the 3:35 mark when Aaron Naismith hit a couple of free throws.
A 6-0 run, all at the free throw line, cut into Arkansas’ lead as the Hogs started their own scoring drought, not hitting a field goal during the last five minutes of the half.
The Commodores, however, did not make a shot for the last 13:17 of the half. The halftime score of 29-25 in favor of Arkansas reflected a game that saw a total of 15 made shots on 53 attempts and 20 turnovers.
Arkansas was able to find a way to extend its lead early in the second half by putting the ball back through the cylinder.
A Mason Jones three followed by a Jalen Harris to Gafford lob led to the Razorbacks’ first double-digit lead of the game, a 38-25 advantage.
With 15:42 left in the game, Vanderbilt was credited with its first field goal in almost 18 minutes. It was a goaltend by Gafford and brought the score to 38-27 at the first media timeout of the second half. Vanderbilt’s previous made field goal had given the Commodores a 15-5 lead.
The shot came in the midst of a 21-4 half-opening Arkansas run. The Razorbacks forced eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the half and shot 50 percent. The rest of the second half was highlighted by a windmill Gafford slam and back-to-back threes from Joe.
Joe finished with 12 points, all from beyond the arc, after missing much of the first half with foul trouble. His first three came from the point on the Vanderbilt star and his third broke Scotty Thurman’s Arkansas record for three-pointers in a season with 103.
The highlight reel plays gave Arkansas a 66-37 lead with five minutes left in the game.
With 2:35 left to play, freshly scholarship-minted Jonathan Holmes entered the game. It was Holmes’ 21st career appearance, but first ever in a true road game. Before Holmes banked in a three pointer, though, walk-on Ty Stevens converted an old fashioned three point play.
Those shots extended Arkansas’ lead to nearly 40 as the game came to a merciful end. Gafford led all with 20 points in 27 minutes. Jones added 16 points along with six rebounds and five assists.
Vanderbilt turned the ball over 23 times in the game, including 13 times in the second half. Arkansas’ plus-12 turnover margin led to a 33-8 points off turnovers advantage.
The 36-point win was the Razorbacks largest margin of victory in a road SEC game and largest road conference win since a 111-72 Southwest Conference win over Texas A&M in 1991.
With the win, Arkansas locked itself into either the No. 9 or No. 10 seed for next week's SEC Tournament in Nashville. If the Razorbacks beat Alabama on Saturday, they'll be the No. 9 seed, but if they lose, they'll be the No. 10 seed.
That game will be back in Bud Walton Arena with tipoff scheduled for 5 p.m. It will be televised on the SEC Network.
BOX SCORE
SUBSCRIBE to HawgBeat and get access to exclusive prospect interviews, the best recruiting network in the industry, inside scoops on recruiting and team news, videos, podcasts and much more.
Join the discussion on THE TROUGH, the Arkansas Rivals premium message board for thousands of Hog fans.
