No. 16 Hoop Hogs fail final exhibition exam, 66-65, after blowing 13-point lead at TCU

By Kevin McPherson

Junior 3/4-combo forward Adou Thiero scored 20 points, but the 16th-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks blew a 13-point third quarter lead en route to suffering a 66-65 charity-exhibition road road loss to TCU on Friday at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

Next up for Arkansas is the team’s regular-season opener — a home game against Lipscomb at 7 p.m. CST on Wednesday, Nov. 6 (SEC Network Plus livestream).

Coming off an impressive 85-69 charity-exhibition home win over No. 1 Kansas last week, the Hoop Hogs took their largest lead over TCU, 54-41, on a layup by senior guard Nelly Davis with 1:42 remaining in the third quarter. But the Horned Frogs scored the final eight points of the quarter, and they extended their run to 10-0 on a layup by Vasean Allette to open the fourth-quarter scoring as TCU pulled within 54-51 with 8:41 remaining in the game.

The teams would trade baskets over the next few minutes as Arkansas was never able to build a lead greater than five points down the stretch, and the Hogs’ final score of the game was on a tip-in by junior forward Trevon Brazile with 3:28 to play that was good for a 65-61 Razorbacks lead.

But TCU closed the final 3:20 with a 4-0 run, including the go-ahead three-point field goal by Brendan Wenzel with 17 seconds to play in the game that provided the final margin, 66-65, in favor of the host Horned Frogs. Arkansas freshman guard Boogie Fland missed a three-pointer with 0:01 left in the game that would have won the game for the Razorbacks had it gone in.

After falling behind by the aforementioned 13 points late in the third period, TCU outscored Arkansas 25-11 spanning the final 11:42 of the game. In that stretch, the Hogs shot only 5-of-18 from the field while turning the ball over five times.

“First of all, give TCU credit, they fought like crazy,” Arkansas head coach John Calipari said after the game. “We had every chance to win the game at the end. They made the plays and we didn’t. We took tough shots, and they were trying to get fouled and get to the rim. My challenge will be ‘Alright, let’s learn how to win.’ We took a 1-on-3 shot with the ball up. We took 3 from our 5-man, what would you do that for? We turn it over on a lob because we look away and throw it.

“So, I’ve got work to do. But the only way I would know it is in a game like this. That was great for us. And I think it was great for Jamie (Dixon, TCU’s head coach). That’s what this is supposed to be, when you do these kind of things. Both teams walk away knowing, and the same with us and Kansas, you walk away knowing ‘okay, we’ve got a chance, but these are some holes.”

Arkansas was better than TCU in overall shooting from the field (26-of-61 field goals for 42.6% compared to the Horned Frogs’ 25-of-67 for 37.3%), but the Hogs were not quite as good shooting from beyond the three-point arc (7-of-24 from distance for 29.2% compared to the Horned Frogs’ 8-of-25 for 32.0%). Both teams shot poorly from the free throw line, but the Horned Frogs were a bit better (Arkansas was 6-of-11 on freebies for 54.5% while TCU was 8-of-14 for 57.1%).

The Hogs lost the turnover battle (14-8, and it was the second consecutive game that UA suffered 10 second-half turnovers); points-off-turnovers (11-9); offensive rebounds (10-8); second-chance-points (7-5); bench scoring (27-18); and steals (9-5). Arkansas won the overall rebounding battle (42-37); fastbreak points (14-11); blocks (10-2); and assists (17-16). Each team scored 32 points in the paint.

Thiero made 8-of-13 field goals, including 1-of-2 from 3, and 3-of-5 free throws for his game-high 20 points to go with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers in 37 minutes. Fland finished with 11 points (including 5 scored in the fourth quarter) on 4-of-9 field goals, including 1-of-5 from 3, and 2-of-3 free throws. Fland also dished out a team-high 5 assists to go with 1 steal and 3 turnovers in 36 minutes.

Davis finished with 8 points (3-of-7 field goals, including 2-of-3 from 3), 7 rebounds, and 2 assists in 22 minutes. Brazile chipped in 6 points (2-of-6 field goals, including 1-of-3 from 3, and 1-of-2 free throws), a game-high 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block, and 1 turnover in 18 minutes.

DJ Wagner (6 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 5 turnovers in 35 minutes); Zvonimir Ivisic (5 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 1 stal, and 2 turnovers); Karter Knox (5 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 assist, 1 steal, zero turnovers, and a team-best boxscore plus-9 in 19 minutes); and Billy Richmond (4 points and 1 assist in 9 minutes) also contributed production for the Hogs in the loss.

After combining for 64 points in the win over Kansas, the trio of Fland-Wagner-Ivisic had only a collective 22 points to go with a combined 10 turnovers against TCU on Friday.

The Horned Frogs were led by veteran big Man Ernest Udeh, Jr.’s 13 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks. Allette and guard Frankie Collins each scored 10 points with freshman Micah Robinson tallying 8 points. Collins also registered a game-high 6 assists.

The Razorbacks closed out their exhibition season with a 1-1 record.

Arkansas senior big man Jonas Aidoo (undisclosed injury) did not play against TCU on Friday after missing the Kansas tilt a week ago.

Same as against Kansas, it was a four-quarter game format (as opposed to the traditional two 20-minute halves) purposed to allow both teams to experiment with situational opportunities as well as increasing the amount of fouls players could commit before being disqualified.

Calipari started Thiero, Fland, Wagner, Knox, and Ivisic.

Thiero exploded for 14 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists to lead Arkansas in first-half production as the Hogs took an 8-point lead at halftime, 39-31, after the teams took turns with the lead for most of the first 20 minutes.

Arkansas shot 15-of-32 from the field (46.9%), including 5-of-11 from 3 (45.5%), and 5-of-6 from the free throw line (66.7.?%) in the opening half.

The Hogs were plus-4 in rebounds (21-17), plus-5 in points-off-turnovers (7-2), plus-3 in fastbreak scoring (9-6), and plus-4 in blocked shots (4-0) in the opening half. Each team scored 16 points in the paint.