No. 15 Arkansas falls to No. 4 Alabama, 84-69
Just minutes after the crowd at Bud Walton Arena was deafeningly loud, the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide came out of a timeout and drilled three-straight 3-pointers to go up by 11 points and end any hopes of an upset by the Razorbacks.
All three of the deep shots came from two star freshman — Brandon Miller, who hit two, and Noah Clowney, who hit one. The Crimson Tide led 74-63 by that point, and eventually won 84-69 over the 15th-ranked Hogs in front of a madhouse in Bud Walton Arena.
After not taking a single shot in the first half, Miller scored 14 in the second half to lead his team to victory.
Jalen Graham provided Arkansas with an offensive bright spot, scoring 16 points and going 8 of 10 shooting from the field. Davonte Davis recorded a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Whistles were a trend in the matchup, as there were 45 combined fouls in 40 minutes. On paper both teams looked similar statistically, but Alabama's 7 of 10 shooting from deep in the second half was the difference.
Here's a recap of Wednesday's game, which was Arkansas' fourth loss of the season.
Arkansas' second basket of the game came on a posterizing slam from Makhel Mitchell, who earned his first start of the season Wednesday. Mitchell drew a foul on the play and hit his free throw to give the Hogs an early 5-3 lead.
A layup from Black was the only other offense for the Hogs in the first four minutes of the game, as they led 7-5 at the first media timeout.
A scuffle between the teams at the 14:12 mark caused a stoppage in the game and resulted in matching technical fouls on Black and Jahvon Quinerly, who drew a shooting foul prior to the extracurricular activity.
By the 12:49 point in the first half, Walsh had two fouls and Alabama was in the double bonus. A jumper from Mark Sears Jr. put the Crimson Tide up by five at the under-12 media break.
Alabama's seventh team foul — and 15th total foul in the game — put Arkansas in the bonus with just over nine minutes to play. Davis knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a 19-14 disadvantage for the Hogs.
Right out of the under-8 minute timeout, the Razorbacks drove down the court and Jalen Graham slammed it down emphatically to trim the Alabama lead to three.
During the final media timeout of the first half, Musselman was in the ear of one official as there had been 20 combined fouls called by that point, the most recent on Graham as the Hogs trailed 28-22.
Minutes later, Makhi Mitchell hit two free throws to cut the Alabama lead to one, and on the next possession, Graham hit a driving layup to put the Hogs up 29-28. The next Arkansas possession resulted in a layup from Mitchell and Bud Walton erupted as the Razorbacks took a 3-point lead.
The 27th and 28th fouls of the first half resulted in both teams hitting free throws, and a layup from Alabama's Dom Welch tied things up at 33-33 going into halftime.
Both teams came out of halftime with offense on the mind, as 18 total points were scored in the first 5:22, but Black drew his fourth personal foul and the Hogs trailed by four at that point.
Council tied the game at 46-46 with a pull-up jumper at the 14:14 mark, but Noah Gurley countered with a three to put the Crimson Tide back out front.
By the under-12 timeout, Noah Clowney had scored six-straight points for Alabama to put them ahead 55-48.
Sears drilled a three at the 9:43 mark to give him 20 points and Alabama a 10-point lead, the largest either team had to that point. Just over a minute later, Graham spun past a defender and jammed it home to cut the Alabama lead to eight.
After making it a 62-56 with a slam dunk on offense, Makhi Mitchell recorded his fifth foul of the game on the other end to bring his night to a close with 7:26 to go.
Graham took things into his own hands just under three minutes later and converted on a hook shoot to cut make it a 65-63 deficit and fans at Bud Walton Arena went crazy.
After Alabama called a timeout, it came out of the break with three straight 3-pointers — one from Clowney and two from Brandon Miller — to extend its lead to 11 with 3:43 to play.
By that point, the game was out of hand and the Hogs could not catch up. The Crimson Tide emerged victorious, 84-69.
Up next, the Razorbacks will travel to Nashville for a matchup with the Vanderbilt Commodores at 1 p.m. CT Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
Box Score
