The No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks (4-2) continued to struggle with turnovers in the 84-79 loss to the Memphis Tigers (5-0) Thursday night in the semifinal round of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
After a back and forth first half that resulted in a 42-37 Arkansas deficit at halftime, the Hogs manged to score 42 points throughout the rest of the game.
Everything seemed fine on paper, as the Razorbacks shot 26-55 (47%) from the field, 7-18 (39%) from beyond the arc and 20-27 (74%) from the charity stripe. But the biggest and most glaring issue was the assist to turnover ratio. The Hogs finished the game with seven assists to 18 turnovers, a discrepancy that likely lost them the game.
"Got to do a much better job taking care of the basketball," head coach Eric Musselman said after the game. "Give Memphis a lot of credit for their aggressiveness. Jumping in passing lanes."
Arkansas led for just 6:31 minutes of game action and finished with 13 points off turnovers, 14 second chance points and four fastbreak points. It's hard to overcome your opponent scoring 17 more points off of turnovers, though.
"End of the first half, I thought cost us the game," Musselman said. "We close the first half, turn the ball over and it ended up in a three. Obviously the 18 turnovers, you're not going to win many basketball games turning the ball over that much."
The only Hog to have an excellent scoring game was guard Khalif Battle, who dropped 21 points off 5-8 shooting and three three pointers. He also finished 8-11 from the charity stripe. Even he struggled in the turnover department, though, as he ended the game with a team-leading four.
"I think Memphis is really aggressive defensively," Musselman said. "They gamble, just in passing lanes, they switch. And I thought they did a great job and we didn't handle it. So you have to give credit to their defense."
Right behind Battle was Trevon Brazile and Davonte Davis, who each finished with three turnovers and one assist. The only two players to finish with more assists than turnovers were El Ellis (3:2) and Layden Blocker (1:0).
"Yeah, a few of them, we just got to be a little more tougher," Davis said after the game. "Guys slapping on the opposite team. And we're not getting calls. Like I said, we got to be tougher. Some of the calls wasn't going our way and we got to look at it and just say we got to be tougher on our end."
Up next, No. 20 Arkansas will face No. 14 North Carolina in the final game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. The game is set to tip off at 12:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
