The No. 15 Arkansas Razorbacks (12-4, 1-3) will hit the road to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores (8-8, 1-2) on Saturday at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.
Both teams will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak. Arkansas fell last Saturday at Auburn, 72-59, and lost to Alabama at home on Wednesday, 84-69. The Commodores dropped a pair of road games to Missouri and Tennessee their last two matchups.
The story for Arkansas continues to be offensive struggles, as it is averaging just 65 points per game in conference play.
"I do think this team is playing hard but we’re offensively challenged," head coach Eric Musselman said after Wednesday's loss to Alabama. "That’s a fact. That’s not an opinion. There would be a lot of other teams offensively challenged too if two players you built your roster around aren’t here. But nobody cares and there’s other injuries throughout athletics in all different sports in the professional ranks and the college ranks."
Led by fifth-year head coach Jerry Stackhouse, Vanderbilt has picked things up offensively in conference play, scoring nearly seven more points per game (78) than its season average (71.4). Though the Commodores lost their last two on the road, No. 20 Missouri beat them by just three points and No. 5 Tennessee beat them by nine.
A return home might be just what the doctor ordered for the Commodores, who are 6-3 at home this year, while Arkansas is 0-2 on the road so far.
Vanderbilt is led by fifth-year senior big man Liam Robbins, who is averaging 18.6 points per game in conference play. Robbins, along with the team's second leading scorer Jordan Wright, has come off the bench and provided a spark for the Commodores as of late.
After playing an Alabama team that ranked No. 3 in the nation in tempo, the pace will change drastically when the Arkansas defense takes on a Vanderbilt team that likes to slow the game down.
Here's a closer look into Vanderbilt's stats, efficiency ratings, projected lineups and more ahead of Saturday's game, which is set to tipoff at 1 p.m. CT on ESPNU:
