GAME STORY: Arkansas handles old SWC foe Texas, 78-70, on Wednesday in Austin in teams’ first-ever SEC meeting

By Kevin McPherson

Back on the NCAA Tournament Bubble following its impressive 10-point road win over then-No. 12 Kentucky on Saturday that had the sports world tuned in for John Calipari’s much-anticipated return to Rupp Arena, Arkansas doubled down on its away-from-home success on Wednesday against longtime Southwest Conference rival and first-year SEC member Texas as the Razorbacks won their second consecutive Quad-1 road game, 78-70, at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

Senior starting guard Johnell Davis scored a season-high 24 points as the Hogs led by 11 points at halftime, 35-24, and by 23 twice in the second half (the last time at 52-29 with 13:35 to play) before a furious 8-on-5 ‘Horns comeback (a.k.a referee-aided) forced Arkansas to settle on its 8-point victory.

Texas got as close as a 5-point deficit, 71-66, with 44 seconds remaining, and after a ‘Horns foul that sent Hogs sophomore starting center Zvonimir Ivisic to the foul line resulted in a missed front-end of the 1-and-1 opportunity, Texas turned the ball over on its ensuing offensive possession as Davis collected his fourth steal of the game with 37 seconds to play. In the final 30 seconds, the Razorbacks made 7-of-8 free throws to ice the win.

Arkansas (14-8, 3-6 SEC, NCAA NET No. 47) has won 3 of its last 4 games capped by back-to-back road victories, which includes the aforementioned 89-79 triumph at Kentucky over the weekend.

The Razorbacks improved to a sturdy 4-5 away from home (includes a 3-3 mark in true road games and 1-2 in neutral-site tilts). They’re 10-3 at home (includes 9-3 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville and 1-0 at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock).

“Well, what I’m telling him (Davis) and all these guys, the fight you have is if you miss two shots, don’t act like you’re going to come out every time you make a mistake,” Calipari said to open his post-game press conference. “The battle is within you. That I’m shooting another one and I’m shooting another one. If you make a bad play, you have to have the mental strength to go on to the next play. If you don’t, there are no alibis … DJ, the way he’s playing, wow. Adou made a few plays. He was as sick as a dog, probably shouldn’t have played, but he made a couple plays. TB played, Z. We have a full roster playing right now. Billy, how about that last block out of nowhere? Who can make that play other than him?

“And again, look, Texas is playing well. They have played well. They have turned it to where — they were like us, their schedule dictated their record. In this league, sometimes it’s not how your team’s playing, it’s who you’re playing … Now, I did tell my team after, that wasn’t one of my best performances down the stretch. But I told them, I was just trying to get out of the gym folks. I wasn’t trying to be fancy, let’s just get out of the gym. I didn’t care that we were up 20 … It could’ve been two and I’d been fine. Just get out of the gym. So, they were great though. Nelly’s done great stuff, he’s grown up.”

The Hoop Hogs are now 3-7 in Q1 games (all three wins away from home against teams ranked Top 25 in NET), 1-1 in Q2, 3-0 in Q3, and 7-0 in Q4.

Arkansas was projected fourth among the “Next Four Out” teams (a.k.a. eight spots away from being an NCAAT at-large-bid qualifier) in ESPN’s latest NCAAT Bracketology update that was released on Tuesday.

It’s a seemingly significant course-correction that has revived Arkansas’ NCAAT at-large-bid hopes following an unprecedented string of five straight losses to begin SEC play.

The win over Texas (15-8, 4-6 SEC, NCAA NET No. 25) moves Arkansas to 88-68 in the all-time series between the two programs, including 28-42 in Austin. The Hogs will play Texas again later this month as the ‘Horns will visit BWA on Wednesday, Feb. 26.

For a second consecutive outing, the Hoop Hogs outshot their opponent overall from the field, from distance, and from the free throw line. Arkansas was 22-of-50 on field goals (44.0%), including 7-of-17 from 3 (41.2%), and 27-of-35 from the free throw line (77.1). The Razorbacks’ halfcourt defense was stingy, blocking 7 shots while generating 8 steals as part of forcing 11 turnovers while holding the Texas to 22-of-64 field goal shooting (34.4%), including only 6-of-22 from 3 (27.3).

However, the ‘Horns were able to make the game competitive by benefiting from a flood of foul-call whistles on Arkansas — several seemed like phantom calls on top of several more than were questionable — in the second half. Texas was already in the bonus just four minutes into the final 20 minutes and ended up shooting 18-of-24 on freebies (75.0%) in the second half. For the game, the Longhorns were 20-of-27 at the foul line (74.1%).

Davis shot 7-of-15 from the field, including 4-of-8 from 3, and 6-of-6 on free throws for his season- and team-high 24 points to go with 5 rebounds, 4 steals, 2 assists, and only 1 turnover in 39 minutes. In the Hogs’ last four games, he’s averaging 17.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.3 steals, and 2.5 assists, and in the back-to-back road wins he’s shot a collective 7-of-14 from 3 (50%).

Junior 3/4-combo forward Adou Thiero was under the weather, but he started and battled admirably in his 22 minutes before fouling out late as he contributed 14 points (4-of-5 field goals and 6-of-12 free throws), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and only 1 turnover.

Sophomore starting guard DJ Wagner got the Hogs off to their quick start with 9 early points as he finished with 13 points (including 4-of-4 free throw shooting), a team-high 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers in 37 minutes.

Ivisic checked up one point shy of his second double-double in the last five games as he finished with 9 points, a team-high 12 rebounds, a game-high 4 blocks, and 2 steals in 35 minutes.

Freshman starting wing Karter Knox had another solid performance with 9 points (1-of-2 field goals, including 1-of-1 from 3, and 6-of-6 free throws). Knox made four of his free throws down the stretch to help secure the win. Freshman reserve wing Billy Richmond II contributed 9 important minutes as he hit 4-of-4 free throws (two of those with 8 seconds to play) for his 4 points to go with 2 rebounds and 1 steal. Veteran frontliners Jonas Aidoo and Trevon Brazile combined for 5 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 steal in a collective 22 minutes.

In addition to shooting better than Texas, Arkansas won turnovers (11-9), points-off-turnovers (12-8), blocks (7-3), steals (8-5), and assists (14-12). The ‘Horns won total rebounds (41-36), offensive rebounds (13-3), second-chance-points (8-4), fastbreak points (15-9), points-in-the-paint (30-26), and bench scoring (15-9).

“Proud of the kids,” Calipari said. “I told the TV at halftime, I love coaching this team now. How ’bout they struggled like that and stuck together? How ’bout they struggled and I had somebody ask, ‘Are you afraid they’re going to let go of the rope?’ Were you in the room? You weren’t the one that asked. I said, ‘Well, they would have let go of the rope already.’ So they’re fighting. They know… I still think we got a ways to go to reach where we should be, I do. But I’m just happy we won this, the last game on the road, two road wins. In this league? Two road wins tells you we’re not too bad.

“We just wanted to be really aggressive (defensively) and pressure and spread them out a little bit,” he said. “To be honest, guys, they missed a lot of shots that they normally make, but they missed them. I was happy they missed. And then we rebounded pretty good. Then the second half they got nine offensive rebounds. Nine. In the second half. That’s like a 20 (for a full game). That’s like our game at Tennessee, where they had 24 offensive rebounds. So we were, again… Believe me, we were just trying to get out of the gym.”

Texas star freshman guard Tre Johnson, the SEC’s leading scorer, had a game-high 25 points but shot only 6-of-22 from the field, including 3-of-9 from 3. He did make 10-of-12 fre throws. Veteran forward Arthur Kaluma had a double-double — 12 points (3-of-11 field goals, including 0-of-3 from 3, and 6-of-6 free throws) and 13 rebounds. Veteran guard Jordan Pope failed to reach his double-digure scoring average as he was held to 8 points, and former Hog guard Tramon Mark was shut out — ZERO points on 0-of-2 field goal attempts.

Next up for the Razorbacks is a return home to face 3rd-ranked Alabama at BWA (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

Calipari started Knox, Ivisic, Wagner, Davis, and Thiero against Texas.

Arkansas used an early 11-0 run for a 17-6 lead, and the Hogs increased that to a 13-point advantage, 30-17, before settling on a 35-24 lead at the break.

Wagner had 9 points, Davis 8, and Thiero 7 to lead the Razorbacks in the first half.

The Hogs shot 10-of-22 from the field (45.5%), including 2-of-8 from 3 (25.0%), and 13-of-18 from the free throw line (72.2%%) in the opening half. Texas shot 10-of-28 overall from the field (35.7%), including 2-of-10 from 3 (20.0%) in the first half. The Longhorns hit 2-of-3 freebies (66.7%) in the first 20 minutes.

Arkansas won turnovers (8-5), points-off-turnovers (10-4), and rebounds (18-15) while each team had 14 points-in-the-paint in the first half.