Not once did Arkansas look like the No. 14 team in the country Friday night.
And North Carolina-Greensboro was too good to let the Razorbacks slide.
The 14th-ranked Hogs fell to their Bud Walton Arena visitors, 78-72. Arkansas never led in the second half, shot just 44% from the floor, was outscored by the Spartans bench by 14 and was outrebounded, 32-30.
UNCG went on a 13-2 run late in the first half to take the permanent lead. Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said defense was his team’s biggest problem.
“The problem was the first half offensively, we were not good. Defensively, probably not good in either half,” Musselman said.
Arkansas was just 4 of 23 from 3-point range, as well.
Tramon Mark led Arkansas with 20 points and was four players in double figures, but other than Khalif Battle’s 11 points off the bench, the rest of Arkansas’ reserves had just two.
Arkansas’ next game is Wednesday against Stanford in the Battle 4 Atlantis.