Were the officials to blame for yet another Arkansas loss? Here’s a closer look at Saturday’s 88-79 loss to No. 23 Kentucky.
The Arkansas Razorbacks (19-12, 8-10) just dropped their third straight game to end the regular season after an 88-79 loss to No. 23 Kentucky (21-10, 12-6).
The atmosphere was electric inside Bud Walton Arena and the action on the floor was intense from the opening minutes. That intensity resulted in a very physical game from both teams, which led to a couple of altercations that had implications in the result of the game.
Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Arkansas’ [autotag]Makhel Mitchell[/autotag] got tangled up under the basket just three minutes into the game. The replay showed that Tshiebwe threw an elbow which appeared to connect with Mitchell’s head. Despite the video evidence, officials did not assess Tshiebwe a flagrant foul. Instead, they assessed common fouls to both players and one to Anthony Black for getting into a verbal altercation with a couple of other Wildcat players.
Tshiebwe would eventually get a flagrant for contact to [autotag]Kamani Johnson[/autotag] later in the half, but played the majority of the game on his way 12 points and 13 rebounds.
The other crucial moment happened with 18 minutes left in the second half. Kentucky was on a decent run and Arkansas players were becoming visibly frustrated. [autotag]Devo Davis [/autotag] was called for back-to-back fouls and appeared to stomp and yell out in frustration, garnering a technical foul from the official closest to the Wildcat bench.
As Davis continued toward the Arkansas bench he appeared to say something else in the direction of the court and was assessed his second technical foul which meant an automatic ejection.
Both of these situations deserve their fair share of criticism when it comes to the officiating, and there were countless other missed calls and non-calls that could’ve gone the Razorbacks’ way. You can argue that if Oscar Tshiebwe is ejected early in the first half, Arkansas wins. You can argue that if Devo Davis isn’t ejected, maybe that also makes a difference in the final score.
However entertaining those “what if?” scenarios won’t change anything and, quite frankly, they weren’t the reason that Arkansas lost. There were plenty of opportunities that the Hogs failed to take advantage of and it cost them a big win at home.
Let’s go beyond the box score to take a closer look at how Arkansas lost today’s game.
