The Arkansas Razorbacks (14-14, 5-10 SEC) suffered another shocking home result in an 85-82 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores (8-20, 3-12 SEC). The Hogs caught fire in the second half, scoring 51 points, but were unable to overcome their defensive woes and a miserable first half that saw them shoot a paltry 29.6% from the field and 8.3% from behind the arc.
Vanderbilt was able to get easy buckets all night, scoring 44 points in the paint and shooting 23-32 from the free throw line. The backcourt duo of Ezra Manjon and Tyrin Lawrence combined for 43 points, and big man Ven-Allen Lubin put up a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds.
RELATED: Arkansas suffers bad home loss to Vanderbilt
“Disappointed in our defense, for sure, in both halves,” head coach Eric Musselman said postgame. “We did play hard down 15 or 16…gave ourselves an opportunity to try to put the game into overtime. But 50 points given up, even though we scored 51…Give Vanderbilt credit, they played extremely hard for 40 minutes.
The Commodores broke the game open and stretched their lead as wide as 16 in the second half before Arkansas mounted a comeback and got within striking distance in the last two minutes. With 22 seconds left, Vanderbilt went to the free throw line with an 80-77 lead.
Lawrence missed both foul shots, but Lubin slipped through for an offensive rebound and an easy and-one layup, sealing the game for Vandy. Surprisingly, Musselman did not have any big men in the game for that sequence. 6-foot-7 wing Jeremiah Davenport was the tallest Razorback on the floor, and Lubin beat him on the box out for the decisive board.
The embarrassing loss to the Commodores, who are second from the bottom in the SEC standings, is just the latest in a troubling trend for Arkansas. This was the Razorbacks’ sixth home loss of the year, their most in a single season under Eric Musselman. In fact, it’s tied for the most home losses by any Arkansas team in the 21st century.
This result guarantees that the Hogs will have the fewest home wins in a single season since Stan Heath’s 2003-04 team went 10-6 at home. With Bud Walton Arena widely regarded as one of the sport’s most hostile environments, Arkansas’ inability to defend its home court has been frustrating and puzzling for fans – especially given the Hogs’ excellence at home under Musselman in previous years.
As this chart shows, Bud Walton Arena has been a fortress for the Razorbacks in previous years. The high mark of this period came in a stretch that saw the Hogs drop just two home games across two seasons, knocking off big time opponents like No. 6 Alabama in 2021, plus No. 1 Auburn and No. 6 Kentucky in 2022.
That success has simply not translated to this year’s team. Musselman has repeatedly said that this team does not have any of the characteristics of his previous teams, and showing effort at home is certainly one of those missing pieces.
Along with UNC-Greensboro and South Carolina, the loss to Vanderbilt was the third time this season that Arkansas has dropped a home game to an unranked opponent. The only other time Arkansas had multiple unranked home losses under Musselman was in his first season in Fayetteville, when the Hogs dropped games to South Carolina and Mississippi State.
Musselman’s kryptonite
Tuesday's loss marks the third consecutive season that Jerry Stackhouse’s Vanderbilt has gotten the better of Arkansas. Ironically, Musselman has the same record against Stackhouse and the lowly Commodores (3-3) that he does against John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats.
Dating back to the 2021-22 season, bad losses to Vanderbilt have stained the Razorbacks’ resume. Despite being favored in each of those games, Arkansas has inexplicably failed to come out on top. Tuesday night’s victory was the Commodores’ first road win of the season.
Dropping this game tosses out any momentum the Razorbacks had built up from back-to-back conference wins last week, and is a disappointment that’s representative of the season as a whole.
