Arkansas falls to UConn in Sweet Sixteen, 88-65
The Arkansas Razorbacks' March Madness run has come to an end.
After upsetting 1-seed Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Razorbacks saw their season finish in a 88-65 Sweet Sixteen loss to 4-seed UConn on Thursday inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The Razorbacks never held a lead in the contest, nor did they ever tie the game after going down 2-0. After pulling within three at the 12:04 mark in the first half, the Razorbacks allowed the Huskies to go on a 14-0 run that put the writing on the wall early on.
UConn's Jordan Hawkins scored a game-high 24 points and the Huskies shot 57.4% from the field in the contest. Arkansas had no chance in the paint all game, as it was out-rebounded 43-31 and outscored in the paint by 18. While it dominated in the paint, UConn was also firing on all cylinders from behind the arc as it was 9-of-20 from three.
Anthony Black scored 20 points and Ricky Council IV added 15 for the Razorbacks, and the rest of the team combined for 30 points in the contest. Arkansas shot 32.3% from the field and had seven assists compared to UConn's 22.
Here's a recap of Thursday's game, which made the Razorbacks 1-4 all-time against the Huskies.
Junior guard Davonte Davis drew his second foul not even two minutes into the game, sending him to the bench and putting more pressure on the Razorback freshman. Black and Smith answered the call by scoring 10 of the Hogs' first 12 points.
There wasn't a stoppage in play until the 13:58 mark, when UConn led 15-12 at the first media timeout.
The Huskies outscored Arkansas 13-3 over the next four minutes to take an 11-point lead at the midway mark of the first half. UConn scored seven more unanswered and Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman called for a timeout with 7:41 to play in the half and his team down by 17.
UConn shot 62% from the field, assisted on eight of its 13 made field goals and was up 15-4 on the glass by the under-8 media timeout.
A pair of threes from Davis and Smith weren't enough to chip away at the UConn lead, as the Huskies continued to have success in the paint. A steal by Alex Karaban turned into a transition layup that extended the UConn lead to 42-25 with 3:35 to play in the first half.
Arkansas ended the first half on a 2:00 scoring drought and it trailed the Huskies, who shot 60.7% from the field in the first 20 minutes, by a score of 46-29 at the break.
The Huskies opened the second half on a 10-4 run to extend their lead to a game-high 23 points. A Jordan Hawkins three ball added salt to the wound and made it a 26-point lead by the first media timeout.
A 3-pointer from Black at the 13:51 mark was the team's first field goal of the second half, but all it did was cut UConn's lead back to 26. A trio of defensive stops turned into seven points for Arkansas to extend the run to 10-0.
Arkansas' quick run was shut right down by a back-to-back threes from the Huskies and a third for good measure put them ahead 71-46 at the under-12 media timeout.
The Razorbacks and UConn scored 11 points each from the stretch of play out of the under-12 timeout to the under-4 timeout, and the Hogs still trailed by 15. Kamani Johnson had fouled out and Arkansas had turned to freshman guards Derrian Ford and Joseph Pinion by that point.
Arkansas saw freshman Barry Dunning Jr. score a pair of buckets in the final two minutes of the game against UConn's reserve players before the final buzzer sounded and the Hogs walked off the court filled with emotion.
Up next, the Razorbacks will turn their attention to the offseason with plenty of decisions to be made. Some will go to the NBA Draft, some will transfer and new faces will come in.
Box Score
