After a 90-77 loss to Illinois on Thanksgiving in Kansas City, which dropped Arkansas out of the Top-25, John Calipari’s squad needed a road win in the SEC/ACC Challenge against Miami. The Hurricanes, who’ve had a rough season with a couple of bad losses — including one to Charleston Southern just this past Saturday — were looking to bounce back.

Led by guard Nijel Pack, who was a game-time decision but ended up starting, the Hurricanes got off to a fast start. Arkansas is no stranger to teams jumping out early — Illinois did it just a few days ago — but this time, the Hogs didn’t let Miami build a big lead like they did against Illinois.

It felt a lot like the Illinois game, with Miami holding the lead for much of the first half. Every time Arkansas started to cut into the deficit, the Hurricanes would hit a big shot to push their lead back up. For a while, it seemed like the Razorbacks couldn’t get over the hump, just like they couldn’t in the Illinois game.

But this time, they did. D.J. Wagner made some big plays in the second half, Johnell Davis showed up when it mattered, and Boogie Fland took control in crunch time, drilling two huge shots to seal a 76-73 win for Arkansas. The victory moved the Razorbacks to a 6-2 overall record on the season.

Here are HawgBeat’s grades from Tuesday’s contest…