Arkansas had its chances. No one can deny that. The Razorbacks battled back from a 13-point deficit late in the 2nd half and briefly took the lead before finally dropping a road contest at Alabama on Saturday. It’s a tough loss for the Hogs, who came in on a 9-game heater, but it’s not a bad loss. Alabama has a very strong team that could easily make a deep run into March.
But we first – those official reviews undoubtedly hurt the Hogs. It was so bad at the end of the game one easily could have expected the officials to award Auburn the ball.
With scant evidence the initial call was incorrect, the officials overturned an out-of-bounds call at the 1:43 mark late in the game. Devo Davis appeared to have saved the basketball, throwing it off an Alabama player as he headed out of bounds. This came 20 seconds after it appeared Bama had knocked the ball out of JD Notae’s hands on a drive to the bucket (a play scored as a turnover).
Then, with 3.4 seconds left after Notae (badly) missed a three-point attempt, it appeared that the Crimson Tide’s JD Davison knocked the ball from Au’Diese Toney’s hands. In this instance, the officials decided there was not enough evidence to overturn the call.
Had the officials made the correct call, the Hogs would have been able to run an out-of-bounds play from under the basket.
Alas, the ball did not bounce their way today.
Let’s take a look at some numbers that may not jump out in the traditional box score.