The Arkansas Razorbacks (12-8, 1-6 SEC) failed to begin their SEC winning streak Saturday evening after losing to the Oklahoma Sooners, 65-62, at Bud Walton Arena.
Coming off a win over the Georgia Bulldogs, the environment inside the Basketball Palace of Mid-America was palpable. Behind two Karter Knox three-pointers and a bucket from DJ Wagner, the Hogs led 8-5 at the first media timeout.
Neither offense wanted to put the ball in the hoop over the next few minutes, which featured a mini scoring drought for Arkansas. After tying the game at 10 points each, the Sooners took their first lead, 12-10, with 12:15 left in the first half.
The stoppage in play didn't help Arkansas much, however, as Oklahoma continued to push the pace and capped off a run with a deep triple by Brycen Goodine to lead, 21-13.
By the 7:29 mark, after another three-ball and two dunks, Oklahoma had Arkansas in the danger zone with a 28-18 advantage, which shrunk to 35-31 by halftime.
Knox led the Razorbacks with eight points, while Johnell Davis added seven of his own with two boards and a steal. Oklahoma's Goodine scored the most points in the first half (nine) and the Sooners made 7-of-16 threes.
To start the second half, Arkansas and Oklahoma traded buckets and batches of defense, but a Davis triple and foul shortly after led to a media timeout.
After losing its lead early in the first half, the Razorbacks reclaimed it, 42-41, with 12:47 to go on a Davis free throw. Just 2:43 minutes later, Arkansas saw its lead grow to 50-44 after a Zvonimir Ivisic three, which forced an Oklahoma timeout.
With under three minutes to go, after back-and-forth burts of offensive incompetence from both teams, Arkansas found itself tied with Oklahoma at 62 points. A questionable foul call put the Sooners at the charity stripe to take a one-point lead with just over a minute left, but an illegal screen gave Arkansas the ball back with 12.6 seconds to go to win the game.
A missed shot by Davis under the rim sealed the Hogs' fate in the loss.
Leading the Razorbacks was David, who tallied 18 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Wagner added 13 points and Thiero notched 10 points of his own.
Up next, the Razorbacks will travel to Lexington, Kentucky, to face the No. 9 Wildcats on Feb. 1 at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Below are media and fan reactions from throughout Saturday night's game...
HIGHLIGHTS
