For much of the second half on Saturday, it looked like the Razorbacks were going to waste a strong start to lose a frustrating-but-excusable game in Columbia. However, despite playing essentially six players, the Hogs held off the Tigers in overtime, 88-84, for their 13th SEC win of the year.
This was a positive win for a number of reasons. First, the Hogs’ 13-5 SEC finish is the program’s best since the same record in 2021-22, when the Hogs earned a 4-seed and went to the Elite Eight. Second, it’s their fifth true road win of the year, and their first against an NCAA Tournament team, something that was lacking in their resume. And third, they did it without Darius Acuff, one of the best players in the country.
As we could have expected, Meleek Thomas was sensational, tying his career-high with 28 points and serving as the offensive focal point in Acuff’s absence. Trevon Brazile was also excellent, scoring 19 points and grabbing nine rebounds while knocking down the final go-ahead 3-pointer with less than a minute left in overtime in what is likely his final game against his former team. And after a very slow start, Malique Ewin took over late in the second half and in overtime, finishing with 17 points and nine rebounds, sealing the game with a few rebounds and some free throws in the closing seconds.
With the double-bye wrapped up, the Razorbacks won’t play again until next Friday. That means that Acuff is going 10 days in between games, giving his ankle a chance to heal. The rest of the team is getting a couple extra days of rest compared to a normal weekly schedule grind.
- Matchup Analysis: Can the Hogs slow down High Point’s clutch shooting?
- Matchup Analysis: Hawaii’s unusual defense will challenge Arkansas’ preparation
- Box Score Breakdown: Arkansas 88, Missouri 84
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You can see the impact of not having Acuff, as the Hogs played a slower pace than normal (17.6 seconds per possession) and were not very productive in transition (18 points in 17 possession). They did manage to defend well in transition, which may have saved the game.
Missouri was better in the paint, with Mark Mitchell’s 32 points leading the way, but the Hogs hit their 3-pointers and created a few extra shots through a lower turnover rate and a few extra offensive boards, and that was enough to win an overwise-evenly-matched game.
Mitchell was fantastic for Mizzou and Thomas for Arkansas, but Brazile walks away with MVP honors for this one, producing a net of plus-7.7 points in a four-point win. The numbers don’t look good for DJ Wagner, but I thought he was fine. His 3-point shot is very poor off the dribble, which is what he mostly shoots when he’s the point guard, but he limited turnovers and initiated the halfcourt offense just fine.
It was an odd game for Nick Pringle. On the one hand, he was +7 in 16 minutes. On the other hand, most of that was the team’s strong start that he had little directly to do with, and your center failing to grab a single rebound in 16 minutes is not really ideal.
Final note is the brief rise and fall of Trent Burns, the 7’5 freshman for Mizzou. He played a significant role in Mizzou’s late-season surge as his minutes suddenly ramped up, but he was awful in both games this week, going minus-12 in his five minutes against the Hogs and also playing poorly against Oklahoma. I did not watch him closely enough to see if the Hogs were doing something specific to cause a problem for him, but he went from “x-factor” to “liability” really fast. I’ll be watching to see how he looks in the SEC Tournament, because Tiger fans were (understandably) starting to talk about making him a focal point of the lineup next year.
Highlights
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Arkansas is the 3-seed in the SEC Tournament. They will play the winner of Thursday’s second-round game between 6-seed Texas A&M and the winner of the Wednesday game, which features 11-seed Oklahoma and 14-seed South Carolina.
First impressions of this draw are mixed but mostly positive. Most positive is that the Hogs are on the opposite side of the bracket from Florida, Tennessee, and Kentucky, the three teams that are probably the worst matchups for them. The Hogs’ path to the finals after the first game would probably be through 2-seed Alabama, which is winnable. I also like seeing Oklahoma in the Wednesday game, because the Sooners are playing really good basketball and are desperately fighting for an at-large chance. I think they’ll take care of South Carolina and then give Texas A&M is a really good fight which ensures the winner will be exhausted heading into Friday.
The main downside is that the Aggies are a tough matchup for the Hogs with their frontcourt combo of Clemence and Agee, who did a number on the Razorback D in the first meeting. A&M needs to force turnovers to win, which is a problem against the Hogs, but I’m worried about Arkansas’ ability to get stops. I would feel better about seeing Oklahoma… or watching Bucky Ball have to spend all its gas getting past the Sooners.
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