Kentucky surges past Arkansas with big second half run, 87-72
Arkansas' last five wins over UK
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Arkansas played well for 27 minutes, but the final 13 belonged to Kentucky as the Wildcats used a huge 22-5 run to flip the script and run away from the Razorbacks Tuesday night in Bud Walton Arena, 87-72.
Arkansas’ Daryl Macon scored his 21st point on a transition layup with 13:34 left, and then Anton Beard made a transition 3-pointer drifting to the basket 18 seconds later to give the Hogs a 5-point lead, 61-56. That was the largest lead for either team in the second half at the time. It evaporated less than a minute later, and then the Wildcats (19-9, 8-7 SEC) regained the lead, 63-61 on a layup by Kevin Knox with 11:54 left. Big Blue never looked back.
“When you’re playing freshmen, you can’t blame them. There’s terminology they don’t know,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the game. “This is all new stuff. I have said most of this is on me to figure out, and I’m slowly figuring out this team. I’m happy where this team is going, but this league is a bear. Arkansas is an NCAA Tournament team and probably a top six or seven seed.”
“I thought their second half was the difference in the game. We made some shots early on,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “I thought our defense was really not up to the standards of stopping them from what they want to do. Then they attacked the glass.”
Then the Wildcats just poured it on the Razorbacks (19-9, 8-7 SEC) with the incredible 22-5 run that made it 81-66 from the 12:56 mark to the 5:03 mark on a free throw from Jared Vanderbilt. Over the span of just 7 minutes and 53 seconds, the margin swung 20 points as Arkansas’ 5-point lead became Kentucky’s 15-point lead, and the game was all but over.
“They made a terrific run at the right time. It was a crucial point in the game,” Macon said. “After they went on that run, they were clicking the entire game. That’s the type of team that once they go on that run, you’ve got to stop them quick.”
Arkansas was much better in the first half and jumped out to an 11-0 lead in less than three minutes of action to open the game. But the Wildcats slowly crept back into it and tied it at 20-20 with 10:21 left in the first
“We just started driving the ball, getting easy offensive rebounds and playing good inside,” Kentucky big man Nick Richards said. “On the four-game losing streak, we just tried to come in and get better.”
The rest of the half, Arkansas led by as many as 6 points, and Kentucky led by a high of 3 points with 18 seconds left off a Razorback turnover and subsequent 3-point play by P.J. Washington. With 4 seconds left, Macon made a sweet crossover at the top of the key that left Sacha Killeya-Jones on his backside, gave Macon a wide-open look and sent the ball through the net to tie it up at 43-43 at the break.
“The thing that I can’t do for these kids, there’s experiences they’ve got to live that I can’t talk them through,” Calipari said. “One of them is being down 11 points on the road to a team that was so hyped to play this game it was crazy.”
On the night, Kentucky was31 of 67 from the floor (46.3 percent), 8 of 21 from 3-point range (38.1 percent) and 17 of 20 from the free throw line (85 percent). Freshman forward Kevin Knox led UK with 23 points and also pulled down 7 rebounds in 38 minutes of action.
“I thought he’s playing better, he’s getting tougher, experiences that he needed to go through,” Calipari said of Knox. “Someone said if you want to rebound better, recruit better rebounders. How about that?”
There were big disparities in bench points, 38-6 for Kentucky, and in rebounding, 46-29 for Kentucky. The Wildcats also crashed the boards for 18 offensive rebounds compared to 11 for Arkansas.
“Obviously it was a big factor. Eighteen offensive rebounds, you can truly say that cost us the game,” Macon said. “It was nothing they were doing, like I said we beat ourselves.”
Led by 26 points from Macon, the Razorbacks were 25 of 63 from the floor (39.7 percent), 9 of 26 from beyond the arc (34.6 percent) and 13 of 18 from the free throw line (72.2 percent). Dustin Thomas chipped in 6 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Jaylen Barford was quiet with 12 points in 30 minutes of action, and Daniel Gafford had 9 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
Unless Arkansas runs into Kentucky in the SEC Tournament or in the NCAA Tournament, the Razorback seniors who have been at Arkansas four seasons will have gone 0-6 against the Wildcats in their careers.
UP NEXT...
Up next, the Razorbacks head to Tuscaloosa to take on the Alabama Crimson Tide (17-10, 8-6 SEC) on Saturday at 5 p.m. (CST). That game will be televised by the SEC Network.
FIRST HALF
A pair of 3-pointers from Barford and then Macon on the first two Razorback attempts of the game just over a minute into it forced Calipari to call a timeout at the 18:50 mark with the Hogs up 6-0.
Arkansas missed their next three attempts from downtown but also pulled down three offensive rebounds and then finally Macon scored from deep again. After a UK miss, Barford missed a 3-pointer, Thomas pulled it down and put it back to make it 11-0 Razorbacks with 17:01 to play in the first half. Kentucky stopped their opening 3 minute and 47 second drought with a layup by P.J. Washington with 16:13 to play in the half.
Arkansas had a 10-point lead, 15-5 with 14:47 to play, when all the starters came out except Beard, who was soon replaced by Barford. Kentucky proceeded to go on a 10-2 run to take the lead down to 2 points, 17-15.
By the 11:26 mark, Macon and Gafford joined Barford on the court. With 10:21 left, Quade Green tied the game at 20-20 on a layup and the two teams started trading blows.
Arkansas hit the double-bonus with 6:29 to play, and a 1 of 2 showing from the line by Gafford put the Hogs up 4 points, 30-26. The Wildcats tied it for the third time on the first free throw attempt by Knox with 4:36 to play and then took their first lead on his second, 33-32.
After some squabbling back-and-forth and trading the lead, Beard sunk back-to-back 3-pointers at the 2:56 mark and the 2:20 mark of the second half to give the Razorbacks a 5-point lead, 40-35.
UK came right back with 5 unanswered points to tie it back up at 40-40 with 46 seconds left. The Hogs called timeout with 32 seconds left and 22 seconds on the shot clock. Beard turned it over and then Macon fouled B.J. Washington on a made layup to put the Wildcats up 3 points, 43-40.
Arkansas had the last possession with 18.6 seconds left. A nasty crossover from the top of the key by Macon put Sacha Killeya-Jones on his rear and left a wide-open made 3-pointer by Macon to tie it up at 43-43 going into halftime.