Hogs fall to WKU in heartbreaker at Bud Walton

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas couldn’t get either of its potential game-winning shots to fall in the closing seconds Saturday afternoon.

Jalen Harris and Daniel Gafford each had their shots blocked at the rim by Charles Bassey to preserve a 78-77 win for Western Kentucky, ending the Razorbacks’ six-game winning streak.

It was also their first non-conference loss at Bud Walton Arena since losing to Akron in the second game of the 2015-16 season, snapping a streak of 28 straight victories.

Bassey, a McDonald’s All-American, had a game-high 21 points, nine rebounds and five blocks for the Hilltoppers, but it was his lone assist that provided them with the go-ahead bucket with 19 second left.

Fighting with Gafford for position on the block, he got the ball as Gafford fell to the floor, which forced Adrio Bailey to provide help side defense. That left Marek Nelson wide open for an easy shot.

“Bassey hooked Dan and Dan…hit the floor,” Bailey said. “I helped him and I left my man open, so they got the layup.”

Western Kentucky head coach Rick Stansbury immediately called a timeout, allowing the Razorbacks to draw up a final play. After Harris dribbled the ball around for several seconds, he drove to the basket and was rejected by Bassey.

The plan, head coach Mike Anderson said, was to hopefully get the ball inside to Gafford or kick it out to sharpshooters Mason Jones or Isaiah Joe.

“Obviously we wanted to get the floor spread and get it inside, attack and get a foul, or let’s get the ball into (Gafford), and if they collapse, which they were doing, let’s get it to the shooters,” Anderson said. “We had a little more success when we opened the floor and were in attack mode.”

There was a chance Harris, had he gone one more step before committing to the layup, could have wrapped a pass around the defender to Bailey for a layup, but “hindsight is 20/20,” Anderson said.

For the Hilltoppers, they knew the Razorbacks were going to attack and Bassey was ready.

“Coach told us they were going to come right at us,” Bassey said. “I knew the point guard (Harris) wasn’t going to pass the ball and he was going to the rim, because he can’t shoot.”

Arkansas caught a break when Taveion Hollingsworth stepped out of bounds with 1.8 seconds left on the ensuing rebound, giving it another chance.

A lob into Gafford resulted in another block by Bassey. This time Bailey appeared to have a chance to stick it back in at the buzzer, but he never controlled the ball.

“I was just trying to stay alert,” Bailey said. “I had a chance to grab it, but I misjudged it and mistimed it and I couldn’t get a hand on it.”

Stansbury was pleased that his team managed to come away with a win at a venue that has traditionally given him a hard time. As an assistant and head coach at Mississippi State and Texas A&M, he was just 4-19 inside Bud Walton Arena.

He said the crowd makes it a tough place to play, but he was more concerned about what he considered the “surprise team” in the SEC.

“Mike’s got the most improved or surprising team in the Southeastern Conference this year,” Stansbury said. “For them to come into this game because whatever they are after losing all those players they lost last year, they’re much better than anybody ever anticipated.”

Arkansas showed that early on, building a nine-point lead at the first media timeout and never trailing in the first half, but Western Kentucky still did a good job of controlling the tempo.

However, the Razorbacks went to halftime with a 41-33 lead. That has been a key stat for them in recent years, as they had won 64 straight games at Bud Walton Arena with a halftime lead and 46 such games in a row overall, according to HogStats.com.

A sluggish start to the second half put those streaks in jeopardy pretty quick. In less than three minutes, the lead was gone.

“We knew the first four minutes of the second half was kind of the game,” Stansbury said. “We came out and responded, which we haven’t been good (at).”

Western Kentucky eventually turned the 8-point deficit into an 8-point lead with 12:43 remaining, using a 24-8 run to do so.

“They spread us and our help side was not there,” Anderson said. “Again, it’s the opposite of how we’ve been playing. I thought defensively that was probably one of our worst performances.”

The Razorbacks clawed their way back into the game slowly, with freshman Desi Sills coming off the bench to provide a spark. He had a personal 6-0 run to tie the game with 8:35 left, another layup to pull Arkansas within one point and a free throw to tie it up again at the 4:32 mark, giving him a career-high nine points.

“He willed us back into this game,” Anderson said. “We went down I think eight points and I thought his defensive presence out there, his energy level, attack the basket, finishing, he was just dialed in.”

In addition to Bassey, the Hilltoppers leaned heavily on redshirt junior Jared Savage, who scored 20 points and made 5 of 7 three pointers.

Three of those shots beyond the arc came in the second half and each came after potential momentum-changing plays by the Razorbacks: a go-ahead dunk by Gafford, a go-ahead 3-pointer by Joe and a 3-pointer by Jones that pulled them within three.

“Those are huge on the road,” Stansbury said. “They’re not just three points. They’re energy. They’re momentum builders.”

Although Gafford finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and two blocks, his miss at the end of the game illustrated his struggles throughout the game. He did start the game off by scoring immediately after the opening tip, when he beat Bassey down the court, but most of his points came on transition plays like that or on put backs.

When down low against Bassey, he was rarely effective on the offensive end of the floor.

“We mixed it up how we guarded him,” Stansbury said. “We doubled him up some, we zoned him some. … We tried to get him multiple looks so he never got comfortable.”

Stansbury said one of the keys to his team’s success was the play of his point guard, true freshman Dalano Banton, who was making his first start since the opener against Washington. He had seven assists and Hollingsworth added six, giving the Hilltoppers 13 between the two when their season high as a team was only 15.

The Razorbacks will get a week off to focus on finals before returning to action next Saturday against UTSA at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and it will not be televised.

“We’re not going to sit here and hang our heads on this L,” Bailey said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s bad losing at home, but our fans love us and we love them and we know we’re going to bounce back.”

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