FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks (14-13, 5-9 SEC) suffered an inexcusable 75-72 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores (7-20, 2-12 SEC) on Tuesday evening at Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas began the game 7-of-10 from the field and then missed 16 of its next 17 shots to trail at halftime and to set the stage for what was a second half performance that featured more boos than cheers from the home crowd. The Razorbacks fought to stay in it until the end, but the reality is that it was a bad loss to a bad team that hadn't scored 80 points all season prior to Tuesday.
"Disappointed in our defense, for sure, in both halves," head coach Eric Musselman said postgame. "I thought the game got away from us, kind of in the middle section. We did play hard down 15 or 16, whatever it was, and gave ourselves an opportunity to try to put the game into overtime. But 50 points given up, even though we scored 51 (in the second half), defended and fouled too much. Give Vanderbilt credit. They played extremely hard for 40 minutes."
One game removed from scoring 42 points against Missouri on Saturday, guard Khalif Battle put up 36 points against Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Tramon Mark added 15 points and six rebounds, while El Ellis had 19 points and three assists.
"Credit to them for getting the tough road win, but it really sucks because I feel like we were just one possession away," Battle said. "As bad as a whole, including myself, we were one possession away. That’s the part that’s the hardest. One more stop, one more shot, one more rebound, that’s the part that’s the hardest to cope with right now. It’s just tough."
The Razorbacks turned the ball over 13 times and the Commodores scored 17 points off those giveaways. Vanderbilt outscored Arkansas by 18 points in the paint on its way to its first victory away from home all season.
The Rundown...
Arkansas opened the game by scoring seven unanswered points, but the Commodores finally woke up and made it an 11-9 game by the first media timeout at the 14:20 mark in the first half. Three early turnovers by Vanderbilt and seven points by Battle helped the Hogs have the two-point advantage by that point.
The Razorbacks turned up the pressure and went on a 9-2 run over the next three minutes to give them a 20-11 lead with 11:24 left in the first half. Arkansas was 7-of-11 from the field by that point and it had scored 12 of 20 points in the paint.
Vanderbilt proceeded to go on a run of its own to make the deficit four by the under-8 minute media timeout. After missing seven shots in a row and not hitting a field goal for just less than a five-minute stretch, the Hogs led just 22-18 with 7:04 until halftime.
Arkansas' stretch of missed field goals extended to nine until El Ellis hit a layup with just more than five minutes left. Shortly after that, Vandy still managed to tie the game for the first time at 27-27 at the final media timeout of the first half.
After the hot start on offense, Arkansas ended the half by missing 16 of its last 17 from the field. Free throws helped keep the Razorbacks within four with Vandy leading 35-31 at halftime despite the Hogs making just one field goal in the last 12 minutes of the first half.
"We weren’t drawing free throws," Musselman said. "Even though we went to the line 31 times tonight, and you saw the shooting percentage from three. Against a zone, you’ve got to be able to make some open threes, and we didn’t do that."
Vanderbilt opened the second half by scoring six unanswered to go up by 10 points on the Hogs' home court. The Razorbacks flipped the script shortly after, though, and managed to make the deficit four by the first media timeout with 14:51 to go.
While the Hogs once again made it a four-point game via a three from Battle to give him 20 points on the game, Vandy scored seven straight to make the lead 11 and force Musselman to call a timeout at the 8:08 mark.
The Commodores started to pour it on and grew the lead to as much as 15 as boos rained down from the few fans at Bud Walton Arena. Even still, the Hogs continue to fight and mad it a 6-point game with just less than three minutes to go after Brazile hit a big three-pointer.
That shot was followed up by Ellis hitting his third triple of the game to cut the Vanderbilt lead to 78-75, and Commodores head coach Jerry Stackhouse called for a timeout with 2:04 to go.
After some back and forth over the next two minutes, the Razorbacks cut the deficit to one with a three from Battle with five seconds left. After two Vanderbilt free throws made it 85-82, Arkansas called a timeout. Out of the break, the Hogs got a good look from three for Mark, but it was no good.
"We lost a close game that we had the ball with the opportunity to potentially put it into overtime, but we didn’t make that," Musselman said. "We put ourselves in that position because of our lack of defense for, in my opinion, most of the game."
Up next, the Razorbacks will take a road trip to Lexington, Kentucky, to take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. CT on CBS. Kentucky beat Arkansas 63-57 at Bud Walton Arena earlier this season on Jan. 27.
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Highlights
