Arkansas falters again in 76-66 loss to Georgia in Hoop Hogs’ first true road game of 2023-24 season

By Kevin McPherson The Arkansas Razorbacks went from a demoralizing 32-point home loss in the team’s SEC opener on Saturday to going on the road for the first time this season and suffering a 76-66 hard-fought defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs on Wednesday in Athens, Ga. Counting their 83-51 home loss to then-No. 25 Auburn on Saturday, the Hoop Hogs (9-6, 0-2 SEC, NCAA NET No.

107) have lost their first two league games for the second time in the past three seasons (the 2021-22 Hogs opened league play 0-3). Arkansas is now 2-4 in games played away from its home at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, which now includes a 0-1 mark in true road games. Despite trailing by as many as 13 points in the first half, by 10 points at halftime, and by 11 points early in the second half, the Razorbacks fought their way to a 60-57 deficit late in the game but they missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity with a chance to pull closer at the 5:19 mark, and that was followed by a 7-2 Georgia spurt good for a 65-59 Bulldogs lead with 2:45 remaining in the game.

The Hogs would draw no closer than a 5-point deficit the rest of the way. Georgia shot 25-of-60 from the field (41. 7%), including 9-of-27 from 3 (33.

3%), and 17-of-22 at the free throw line (77. 3%). Defensively, the ‘Dogs held Arkansas to 24-of-60 field goal shooting (40.

0%), including a dismal 3-of-21 from 3 (14. 25). The Hogs started the game 1-of-6 at the foul line and finished 15-of-22 (68.

2%). The Bulldogs won the turnover battle (15-13) and dominated both points-off-turnovers (25-10) and fastbreak scoring (11-6). The teams were effectively even on the glass as Georgia was plus-1 in total rebounds (40-39) while Arkansas was plus-1 in offensive rebounds (10-9).

The Razorbacks were plus-8 in points-in-the-paint (34-26) and plus-1 in second-chance-points (10-9). Georgia was led by guard Justin Hill’s 19 points, guard Noah Thomasson’s 15 points, and wing RJ Melendez’s 10 points and 5 rebounds. Arkansas had one player in double-figure scoring, junior wing Tramon Mark, who finished with a game-high 24 points to go with a team-high 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks.

The ‘Dogs leading scorer, guard Jabri Abdur-Rahim, was held to only 5 points (1-of-8 field goals, including 1-of-6 from 3), but the Hogs’ second leading scorer, Keyon Menifield, Jr. , was held scoreless on 0-of-5 field goal shooting, including 0-of-2 from 3. “I thought we had good ball movement,” fifth-year Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman.

“I thought we had good spacing. We ran more middle pick-and-rolls. But the 3 of 21 from three … I mean, if you’re a shooter, you’ve got to make open shots.

I thought we did a great job on their leading scorer [Jabri Abdur-Rahim). He made one field goal. It was on a broken play, broken pass.

Abdul-Rahim’s a really talented player, a great three-point shooter. He’s high volume free throw attempt player. We kept him off the foul line.

Held him scoreless for almost the entire game or I should say without a field goal. “But I thought the difference in the game was some of their shooters making shots. (Blue) Cain came in and went 1-of-1 from three.

Noah Thomasson goes 3-of-6 from three. Their freshman, No. 4 (Silas Demary) goes 1-of-3 and Justin Hill comes in 3-of-7 from three.

Then you look at our three-pointer numbers. If you look at every other statistical category both teams shot 22 foul shots. The turnovers are 15 to 13.

You bring up why did we score 42 one half and 24 the other, we took much better care of the basketball. Five second-half turnovers as opposed to the 10 turnovers that we had at halftime. So we did a really bad job taking care of the basketball in the first half and the second half took a little bit better care of the basketball.

“I thought we played hard. I mean, we come out of timeouts and have at least three times wide open looks and miss them. And then they come down and their shooters are making shots and ours are not.

We’re obviously not the defensive team we’ve been over the last four years. We’re not guarding the ball like we have. We’re certainly not guarding the three-point shot.

So, if your overall team defense is not up to what it’s been in the past then your offense should be better. I mean, 3 of 21. We had a bunch of defenders in the past that could go 3 for 21.

” The Razorbacks’ NET resume now includes a 1-4 mark in Quad-1 games, 0-1 in Q2, 3-1 in Q3, and 5-0 in Q4. The Razorbacks had won three consecutive games against Georgia (12-3, 2-0 SEC, NCAA NET No. 85) but slipped to 26-17 all-time against the ‘Dogs.

Musselman fell to 104-48 overall as Head Hog, which includes a 45-35 mark against SEC foes and a 59-13 record against non-conference opponents (all three marks include postseason results). Next up for Arkansas is the team’s second consecutive SEC road game as the Florida Gators will play host to the Hogs in Gainesville, Fla. (3 p.

m. CT, Saturday, Jan. 13, ESPN).

Against Georgia on Wednesday, Musselman started the quintet of Menifield, Mark, Devo Davis, Trevon Brazile, and Makhi Mitchell. A couple of Mark buckets helped the Hogs pull within 16-15, but a 14-2 Georgia run set the Bulldogs up with a 30-17 late second-half lead. The ‘Dogs were up by 10 points at the break, 34-24.

Senior forward Jalen Graham (7 points) led the first-half production for the Hogs. Arkansas had 4 first-half assists for 10-of-30 field goal shooting (30. 0%), including 1-of-6 from 3 (16.

7&%). The Hogs were 3-of-8 at the free throw line (37. 5%) in the opening half.

Defensively, the Hogs yielded 13-of-32 field goal shooting (40. 6%) to the ‘Dogs in the opening half, including 4-of-13 from 3 (30. 8%).

Georgia shot 4-of-4 at the free throw line (100%) in the first 20 minutes. Georgia won rebounds (23-20), turnovers (9-7), and points-off-turnovers (14-5) in the first half. .