Not a subscriber? Subscribe for free for 30 days w/code HAWGS30
NEW USERS | RETURNING USERS
Arkansas fell short at Missouri in a free throw-heavy, overtime slugfest 83-79 to drop to 4-6 in conference play.
Four Razorbacks fouled out down the stretch, including starters Mason Jones, Reggie Chaney and Adrio Bailey in overtime. The last time at least three starters fouled out of a game was against Auburn in 2004 when Jonathon Modica, Matt Jones and Vincent Hunter fouled out, according to HogStats.com.
Arkansas needed two separate runs late in the second half and a Desi Sills layup with 33 seconds left to force overtime.
The personal fouls were decidedly one-sided in the extra period, when Missouri made 10 of 13 free throw attempts to sink the Razorbacks.
In total, 59 personal fouls were called in the game, with 32 of them against Arkansas. Six different Razorbacks ended the game with at least four fouls.
Arkansas will stay on the road to open next week, traveling to Knoxville, Tenn., on Tuesday to face a Tennessee team coming off a 77-64 home loss to Kentucky. The Volunteers are 13-10 overall and 5-5 in SEC play.
Tip off is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
Rocky starts for both teams
Neither team got off to the start it was hoping to on Saturday. By the first media timeout, the stats were an ugly sight to behold.
Arkansas attempted just one field goal in the first four-plus minutes to Missouri’s 11 and coughed up the ball four times. Luckily for Eric Musselman’s team, the Tigers hit just one of those 11 attempts despite pulling down six offensive rebounds in short order.
After all that, Arkansas entered the first media break with a 7-5 lead thanks to four made free throws and a Sills three in the early going.
The lead did not last long, however. Missouri came out of the timeout with a 13-4 run bolstered by a 9-for-9 start at the free throw line.
Turnovers slow down the offense
Arkansas came into the game averaging just 11.9 turnovers per game, second best in the SEC. In the first half at Missouri, though, issues protecting the basketball prevented the Razorbacks from getting into any rhythm.
The Razorbacks turned the ball over 10 times in the first 20 minutes alone and ended up shooting just 32 percent in the half. Between points off turnovers and second chance points from 10 offensive rebounds allowed, Missouri found 20 extra points. That’s eight more than Arkansas in the same categories in a half that ended with the Tigers up 36-30.
Turnover No. 11 came less than 30 seconds into the second half, but the Razorbacks lost the ball only three more times the rest of the way. In the second half and overtime, Arkansas shot 43.2 percent from the field.
Shot defense keeps Arkansas around
One peek at the Razorbacks’ box score would suggest a more lopsided result in the score column, but Arkansas kept itself in the game with tight defense that has marked Musselman’s first year in Fayetteville.
Missouri hit 23 of 60 field goal attempts and made only three of the 16 three-pointers tossed up. The Tigers had to rely on their numerous trips to the free line, where they have found 21.5 percent of their points this season. Against Arkansas, 41 percent of Missouri’s points came at the stripe.
The Razorbacks also forced 17 turnovers, with eight of them being live-ball turnovers. Chaney, Bailey and Jalen Harris each had two steals in the contest. Arkansas finished with a 24-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
Chaney reaches career mark
In his fifth start of the season, Chaney dropped a career-high 17 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor and pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds to notch the first double-double of his Arkansas career.
Chaney, who averages 3.5 rebounds and 1.2 offensive rebounds per game, also had a career-high six offensive boards.
The sophomore is averaging 7.6 points and 7.2 rebounds a game since joining the starting lineup.
Jones finally cools off
After a historic run of 30-point games, the tight rims in Columbia made no exception for the SEC’s leading scorer.
Jones scored 17 points in the game, but got 11 of them from the free throw line. The junior missed all six of his three-point attempts and was just 3-of-14 from the field to go along with four turnovers.
The 21.4 percent shooting clip was his worst of the season when taking at least 10 field goal attempts. That said, Jones is still averaging 30.3 points per game over the last four games.
Overtime woes
Arkansas is now 1-3 in its four overtime games this season. Its lone win came at Georgia Tech on Jones’ last-second bank shot three-pointer.
The Razorbacks have lost every overtime game since then, including in each of the last two games. In those four games, the Hogs are averaging just 7.0 points per period.
The team has shot 10 of 29 from the field in the four overtimes, including 2 of 11 from beyond the arc, and is 6 of 12 at the free throw line. That works out to a true shooting percentage of just 40.8 percent. In comparison, Arkansas’ true shooting percentage for the entire year is 54.8 percent.
Arkansas native gets his second shot at the Hogs
Mitchell Smith, a fourth-year junior from Van Buren, Ark., played 35 minutes in his second appearance against the Razorbacks.
Smith scored eight points with six of them coming at the free throw line. He also tied a career high with 11 rebounds.
On the other side, Jimmy Whitt played in his hometown for the second time in his collegiate career. During his first stint at Arkansas, Whitt scored 15 points and grabbed three rebounds in 20 minutes at Missouri in January 2016.
This time around, Whitt scored 15 points and added three rebounds again in 40 minutes of action.