Tag: Arkansas Tennesee

Beyond the Box Score: Arkansas has familiar issues in ugly loss to No. 12 Tennessee

Here’s a closer look at where everything went wrong for Arkansas in their brutal loss to No. 12 Tennessee on Tuesday night.

The Arkansas Razorbacks (19-11, 8-9 SEC) are below .500 in conference play once again after their 75-57 loss to No. 12 Tennessee on Tuesday night.

It was a frustrating and ugly performance as the Volunteers (22-8, 11-6) led from wire-to-wire and showed why they arguably the best defense in the entire country. The Razorbacks just couldn’t get anything going offensively in the first half, turning the ball over over 10 times and shooting just 37.5% from the floor.

At the other end, Tennessee owned the paint and offensive glass, making it tough on Arkansas to close out defensive possessions. The Vols had a 12-0 advantage in second chance points and 8-1 advantage in offensive rebounds, which helped them take a 34-25 lead into halftime. Arkansas was able to cut the lead to seven early in the second half, but it was basically more of the same and the result was never in doubt.

Arkansas’ struggles in Tuesday night’s loss were similar to what plagued them in the second half of their loss to No. 2 Alabama this past Saturday. The Razorbacks were outrebounded, overpowered in the paint and missed too many free throws in both games.

Let’s go beyond the box score and take a closer look at what happened to Arkansas in their penultimate game of the regular season.

Tennessee hammers Arkansas to drop Hogs below .500 in SEC

Arkansas didn’t look like an NCAA Tournament team on Tuesday night.

Tennessee didn’t need Zakai Zeigler on Tuesday night. Not with the way Arkansas played.

The Volunteers had no trouble with a Razorbacks team that looked outmatched for about the entire night in an 75-57 Tennessee win.

Zeigler, the Vols’ star point guard, left the game early in the first half with a potentially serious knee injury. The injury may hurt Tennessee going forward, but Tuesday night, Arkansas never led for even a second.

Arkansas had no answer for Tennessee on the inside. The Vols outscored the visitors 42-18 in the paint and 13-4 on second-chance points. The Razorbacks were forced to shoot more 3-pointers than coach Eric Musselman is normally comfortable with and went just 8 of 22 from range. Overall, Arkansas shot a measly 37% from the floor.

Olivier Nkamhoua led Tennessee with 16 points and chipped in seven rebounds. Santiago Vescovi wasn’t far behind, adding another 14 points.

Arkansas had four players in double figures, but no one had more than Anthony Black’s 13. He was the only Razorbacks player to shoot better than 50% from the fied, as well, as he went 6 for 9.

The Razorbacks close the regular season Saturday at home against Kentucky with a potential NCAA Tournament at stake.

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