Tag: Arkansas Kentucky

Twitter/X reacts to Arkansas’ loss to Kentucky

Twitter is never a place for sane people and definitely for Arkansas fans on Saturday.

Arkansas played its best basketball game of the season against Kentucky.

Arkansas lost.

Arkansas could have been playing like that all season long.

Arkansas is cooked.

All four statements are true. The Razorbacks, after Saturday’s 111-102 loss at 15th-ranked Kentucky are now below .500 and in danger of finishing with a losing record for the first time since John Pelphrey’s 2009-10 team.

This year’s version of the Hogs isn’t nearly as bad as that one, which is what makes the season so frustrating for Arkansas fans. Coach Eric Musselman is with them in that emotion, though his cries aren’t made on Twitter. He’s a bit more stable than that.

Some Arkansas fans are convinced this is his last year with the Hogs. For whatever reason. Some are convinced Devo Davis is gone, too. And Khalif Battle. And Tramon Mark.

In other words, Twitter/X, that basion of sanity on the internet, continued to have wild takes even after the Hogs’ best game of the year. These are but a sampling.

Everything Eric Musselman said after Arkansas lost to Kentucky

Eric Musselman wishes he would have received that kind of Saturday all season long.

Arkansas basketball coach Eric Musselman has been frustrated all year long. Saturday’s game against Kentucky was a perfect example.

The Razorbacks, who started the year ranked inside the Top 25, are in danger of their first losing season in more than a decade. But against the 15th-ranked Wildcats, Arkansas looked like the team many thought the Hogs would have at the beginning of the year.

That’s just the way things have gone.

Arkansas was excellent offensively, but Kentucky could be barely be stopped in the Wildcats’ 111-102 win. The Wildcats had seven players score in double figures as Arkansas countered by going 27 of 28 at the free-throw line and with 34 points from Khalif Battle.

Musselman stressed the pride he had in his team in fighting against a potential national-championship-winning team in the Wildcats. But his voice also held the frustration of a coach who believes his team should be – and should have been – playing that kind of basketball all year.

Here’s what Musselman had to say after the game.

Arkansas falls to Kentucky in offensive explosion from both

That was an absolute dogfight between the Hogs and Cats.

Kentucky went on a 7-0 run in the final five minutes to overcome a late deficit and beat Arkansas in Lexington, 111-102.

The Razorbacks had taken an edge of control midway through the secnod half via an 18-3 run. But the Wildcats countered late by keeping Arkansas without a field goal from the 8:42 mark to 1:38.

Khalif Battle kept the Hogs in the game as best he could. He scored 34 points on 8 of 16 shooting from the floor and 17 of 18 from the free-throw line. He was joined in double figures by Tramon Mark (23), Jeremiah Davenport (14) and Makhi Mitchell (13).

But Kentucky was too much on its offensive end. The Wildcats made their last six field goals to put things away. They shot 57% as a team and seven different Wildcats players had double-digit point totals, led by Antonio Reeves’ 22 points.

Ten of Arkansas’ points in those final nearly nine minutes came at the line. The Razorbacks shot 27 of 28 at the stripe overall to make a game of it.

Kentucky, ultimately, won its third straight in the series after Arkansas had won the previous three in a row.

Arkansas is back at Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday for its final home game of the season against LSU.

With just three games remaining, Hogs fans ready for season to end

Arkansas enters Saturday’s showdown at Kentucky as a 13.5-point underdogs.

The Arkansas basketball team has just three regular-season games remaining, including today’s trip to Kentucky’s Rupp Arena for a showdown with the No. 15 Wildcats.

For most Razorback fans, the end can’t get here soon enough. Although there is still a good chance that the Razorbacks qualify for at least one game in the upcoming SEC Tournament, the true interest level is waning.

After Arkansas had won it’s two prior games, before Tuesday night’s disappointing defeat at home to Vanderbilt, there was a last-sap effort to bring hope to the season. The Commodores made sure to crush those hopes.

Most of the chatter on X and social media has focused on baseball and softball, of late – two programs that have a chance to pull Hog fans out of the doldrums.

There is the somewhat positive fact that Arkansas has defeated Kentucky the last two games they have played in Lexington. But being 13.5-point underdogs when they tip off today at 12:30 on CBS, that fact seems meaningless.

Here is some of what was posted on X:

Hogs tangle with No. 15 Kentucky; Battle on verge of scoring history

Arkansas has a two-game win streak at Rupp Arena, but the Razorbacks enter Saturday’s game as a 13.5-point underdog.

Just when it looked like it may finally be turning the corner this season, the disappointing Arkansas basketball team squashed any momentum with an 85-82 loss to Vanderbilt in Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday night.

Now, the ravaged Razorbacks (14-14, 5-10 SEC), a 13.5-point underdog,  must now try to get back in the win column playing inside one of college basketball’s toughest environments, Kentucky’s legendary Rupp Arena. The Hogs and No. 15 Wildcats will tip off at 12:30 p.m. on CBS.

Arkansas had won its previous two games, prior to Tuesday, taking out Texas A&M on the road and Missouri at home – completing the season-sweep against both teams. But Vandy (8-20, 3-12) hobbled into Fayetteville and defeated the Razorbacks for the third straight time.

This will be the second meeting of the season for the Cats and Hogs, after Kentucky (20-8, 10-5 SEC) won 63-57 in Fayetteville on Jan. 27. Arkansas led at halftime of that game, and even held the advantage with 13 minutes left in the game, but then allowed the Wildcats to score eight unanswered points down the stretch to seal their fate.

Arkansas and Kentucky have a celebrated history against each other, although the Wildcats do hold a 35-14 lead in the all-time series. This will be the 50th meeting between the two schools on the hardwood. Although Kentucky does hold a 15-5 edge in Rupp, the Razorbacks have won the past two meetings in that arena.

Senior Khalif Battle has been on fire the past two games for Arkansas, putting up a career-high 42 points in the win over Missouri, then 36 against Vanderbilt. The 78 points in back-to-back games rank second in program history, only behind Martin Terry’s 82 in back-to-back games in 1973. Terry scored 35 at TCU, then 47 at home against SMU.

If Battle can score 30 points on Saturday, he would join Mason Jones as the only Razorbacks to score 30-plus in three straight contests. In 2020, Jones put up 34 against South Carolina, then 30 at Alabama, followed by 40 at home against Auburn. He was named AP SEC Player of the Year following that season.

After Kentucky, the Hogs have two regular-season games remaining Those include its final home game against LSU on Mar. 6, then the finale at Alabama on Mar. 9.

What are the odds Arkansas beats Kentucky? Seven percent, per ESPN

Arkansas hasn’t been this big an underdog against Kentucky in at least a decade.

The Arkansas basketball team would not have been favored or predicted to beat Kentucky on Saturday regardless of how the team’s last several games worth of outcomes.

But when the Razorbacks lost to lowly Vanderbilt on Tuesday at home, Kentucky’s chances of beating Arkansas grew even larger. Now, according to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, the Wildcats have a 93% chance of winning Saturday’s matinee.

Arkansas had been playing good basketball until the Commodores arrived in Fayetteville. Vanderbilt left Bud Walton Arena with its first road win in almost a whole calendar year and left Arkansas in danger of its worst season in more than a decade.

Kentucky meanwhile is climbing. The Wildcats are projected as a No. 4-seed in the NCAA Tournament in Joe Lunardi’s most recent Bracketology for ESPN. They own wins over Auburn, Alabama and Mississippi State over the last two weeks – all teams also projected to make the Dance.

Arkansas hasn’t beaten a team that is currently “in” Lunardi’s projections in since November when the Razorbacks beat Duke.

Beyond the box: Arkansas proves it can go toe-to-toe with the best still

Tramon Mark’s consistency is all Arkansas has on the offensive end. Can Khalif Battle or El Ellis step up to be his lieutenant?

The phrase goes “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” But if you don’t think the Arkansas basketball team took a step in the right direction on Saturday against Kentucky, think again.

No, the Razorbacks aren’t a very good basketball team currently. The key is the adverb. Currently, the Razorbacks aren’t very good. That doesn’t mean they will be next time out or by the end of the season, even.

What it does mean that when Arkansas plays up to its capabilities, the Hogs are still the team that was preseason Top 25 and beat Duke in November, plus knocked off Purdue in exhibition.

The numbers against Kentucky are evidence the Hogs aren’t dead. They have serious offensive problems and a lack of consistency has plagued the program more than a year.

Let’s take a look at some of the numbers beyond the box score and examine what’s holding Arkansas back and, really, just how close the Razorbacks could be to turning the corner.

Photo gallery: Arkansas basketball’s loss to Kentucky was important

Arkansas basketball gave Razorbacks fans something to be proud of against Kentucky.

Saturday was an important night for the Arkansas basketball team.

Minutes before the Razorbacks tipped against No. 6 Kentucky, the team announced that four-year starter Devo Davis had stepped away from the club. About two hours later, after their best effort in weeks, the Hogs fell by just six points, 63-57.

Emotions were high throughout on both the Arkansas bench and among the thousands of a packed house at Bud Walton Arena. Speculation ran rampant about the reasons for Davis’ absence and his team appeared galvanized in a game Musselman said was closer to what he expects from his now .500 bunch.

Kentucky coach John Calipari had nothing but words of praise for Arkansas, saying the tough times were going to be temporary. The Razorbacks need a miracle to make a fourth straight NCAA Tournament, but if with continued games like Saturday’s, the final half of SEC play can end better than it began.

As for what’s to come in the next several days, who knows. But for one night, even a night in which the team lost, Arkansas basketball showed a heart.

Everything Eric Musselman said after Arkansas fell to Kentucky

Eric Musselman was proud of his team’s effort for the first time in weeks, but he also knows his team has serious weaknesses.

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman knows he’s in a tight spot.

The Razorbacks lost for the sixth time in seven SEC games on Saturday, falling to Kentucky, 63-57, leaving the team near the bottom of the conference barrel.

But Arkansas was also better than usual against the sixth-ranked Wildcats. Musselman, who has regularly bemoaned his players’ lack of effort since December, found no ill words in that regard after the game. His team played hard. They just didn’t play well enough.

News came minutes before tip that heart-and-soul leader of the team Devo Davis was stepping away from the club. No other words were given in the press release or by Musselman after the game, but Davis’ teammates appeared galvanized by his absence.

Arkansas outrebounded Kentucky, the Hogs scored more points in the paint and they had more blocked shots. They also had nearly 200 passes, a statistic Musselman points out after most games and a number that was a marked improvement over the last few weeks, as well.

But offensively, the Razorbacks can’t get anything going. Kentucky may have struggled offensively, too, but the Wildcats have weapons that the Hogs simply do not right now.

Here’s what Musselman had to say after the game.

Effort shows, results don’t as Arkansas falls to Kentucky

Arkansas’ heart appeared, but sixth-ranked Kentucky had too much on Saturday.

The Arkansas basketball team played about as well as could be expected for a bottom-of-the-SEC bunch against the No. 6 team in the country.

But the result ended up about how most figured.

Kentucky, the nation’s top-scoring team, struggled offensively, but had enough juice to put away the Razorbacks, 63-57, in front of a packed Bud Walton Arena crowd on Saturday.

A 7-0 run midway through the second half, spurred exclusively by Reed Sheppard and Antonio Reeves, gave Kentucky its first lead, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish, even if it never grew to expected proportions.

Reeves led all scorers with 24 points and Sheppard scored all 14 of his in the second half.

Arkansas’ defense was as good as it has been in SEC play. The Hogs limited Kentucky to about 25 points below its season average and the Wildcats shot just 37% from the floor. Arkansas’ offense, though, never found rhythm.

Makhi Mitchell, he of 13 minutes a game this season, led Arkansas in scoring with 12 points. Tramon Mark and Khalif Battle added 11 apiece, but on 5-of-17 (Mark) and 3-of-10 (Battle) shooting.

The teams’ stats at halftime were eerie. Both shot 9-of-31 from the field. Both were 67% from the free-throw line. Both made two 3-pointers; Kentucky’s on nine attempts and Arkansas’ on 10. The Hogs had five turnovers to Kentucky’s four.

The turnovers ultimately doomed Arkansas. Sheppard punctuated that 7-0 run with a picked-off pass and dunk and Kentucky scored 12 points off the Razorbacks’ 13 giveaways.