The No 19. Arkansas Razorbacks (5-2, 0-0 SEC) got behind early to the Illinois Fighting Illini (6-1, 0-0 Big 10) and never recovered in a 90-77 loss on Thanksgiving Day at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
Arkansas' shooting woes returned as the Hogs missed their first seven shots from deep and fell into a 11-0 hole to start the game. The Razorbacks tried to make several attempts to cut into that lead throughout the game, but every time they did, the Illini countered.
"We did some good stuff, but you can't give up 16 threes and expect to win a game," Arkansas head coach John Calipari said postgame. "You can't. You're not going to. And I even said prior to the game, a team that's willing to shoot 30, 35 threes, if they make 20, you're losing. Then there may be a game they make five and they're losing. And today, just leaving corners and stuff that my teams don't do, we did a bunch of it today."
Adou Thiero led the charge in scoring with 26 points and was all over the floor, whether that was diving for loose balls, powering through the lane to get to the free throw line or fighting for rebounds.
Arkansas center Jonas Aidoo returned to the floor after he missed the last three games with a nagging injury. He didn't play much as he only logged 11 minutes of action, and had three rebounds to go along with two points.
It wasn't enough, though, as the Illini drilled 15 three-pointers in the game, led by Tomislav Ivisic, the twin brother of Arkansas center Zvonimir Ivisic. Tomislav went 6-of-9 from deep and added 10 rebounds as well.
HawgBeat hands out the grades for those who played Monday night...
