Game story: Arkansas handled by No. 19 Oklahoma, 79-70, in final Crimson & Cardinal Classic on Saturday in Tulsa

By Kevin McPherson The Arkansas Razorbacks are still in search of consistency as well as their first Quad-1 win of the season after unbeaten and 19th-ranked Oklahoma handled the Hogs, 79-70, on Saturday in the final Crimson & Cardinal Classic at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. The Razorbacks (6-4, No. 113 in NCAA NET rankings entering Saturday’s game) have lost four of their last seven games — the most non-conference losses under fifth-year head coach Eric Musselman — after opening the 2023-24 campaign 3-0 and with a No.

14 national ranking. Oklahoma (9-0, No. 15 in NCAA NET rankings entering Saturday’s game) added the Arkansas triumph to previous wins over Providence, Iowa, and ranked USC.

Playing with star sophomore forward Trevon Brazile (ankle) in the lineup, the Razorbacks were competitive most of the first half before surrendering a 14-2 run that sent OU to halftime leading 37-25, and though Arkansas opened the second half with a 6-0 spurt to pull within a six-point deficit, 37-31, the Sooners struck back with a decisive 15-2 run — including 2-of-2 free throws when Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman was ejected with two technical fouls — for their biggest lead of the game at 52-33. OU was in control inside and out for most of the contest. Musselman was also ejected from the first Crimson & Cardinal Classic two years ago during OU’s 88-66 win.

“I have no comments about the refs at all,” Musselman said after the game. “I don’t think there’s any correlation between why it happened twice here (Musselman being ejected in two out of three games against OU in Tulsa in the past three years). Yes, I did (watch the remainder of the game from the Razorbacks’ locker room).

“The team right now is not playing with the same personality as our past teams the last four years. And we’ve got to get a lot better. I think we play three games in the next 20 days.

Rotations, roles, all those things are … There’s going to be some changes. So we’ll go back, we’ll watch the film. Positive is tonight we finally created some steals.

So that’s a positive. Finishing at the rim is a huge issue, and not only not finishing at the rim, but falling down. And now transition defense (has been affected).

It’s been going on all year. So we’ve shown film, we’ve done drills. And we’ve got to get a lot better organizing on the floor from the point guard spot.

I mean, shot clock violations … There’s a lot of things we have to clean up for sure. ” Transfer guard Javian McCollum scored a game-high 20 points (he was 8-of-8 at the free throw line) to go with 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal. Guard / wing Otego Oweh finished with 14 points (6-of-7 field goals, including 2-of-2 from 3); sophomore guard Milos Uzan contributed 11 points, 3 steals, 2 rebounds, and 2 assists; and off the bench, Rivaldo chipped in 13 points (3-of-4 field goals, including 1-of-1 from 3, and 6-of-8 free throws), 7 rebounds and 1 assist.

The Sooners had their way on offense, hitting 25-of-49 field goals (51. 0%), including 7-of-18 from 3 (38. 9%).

OU made 22-of-28 free throws (78. 6%). Defensively, OU held Arkansas to 20-of-50 from the field (40.

0%), including 4-of-18 from 3 (22. 2%). The Razorbacks made 26-of-31 at the foul line (83.

9%). Oklahoma won points-in-the-paint (36-26); rebounds (33-25, including offensive rebounds 8-6); second-chance-points (13-8), and assists (11-8). Arkansas won turnovers (15-13), points-off-turnovers (16-13), fastbreak points (13-4), bench scoring (53-27), blocks (6-0), and steals (10-6).

Senior guard Khalif Battle led the Hogs with 13 points (2-of-10 field goals, including 1-of-4 from 3, and 8-of-8 free throws) while senior wing Jeremiah Davenport had a season-high 12 points (3-of-6 field goals, including 2-of-5 from 3, and 4-of-6 free throws). Senior big men Makhi Mitchell (9 points on 2-of-3 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws, a team-high 6 rebounds, a game-high 3 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals in 27 minutes) and Jalen Graham (8 points on 4-of-5 field goals, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks in 16 minutes) were productive for the Hogs. Freshman guard Layden Blocker contributed 7 points (2-of-3 field goals and 3-of-4 free throws), 2 rebounds, and 1 steal.

Arkansas’ five starters combined for only 17 points in the game. Two of those — Brazile (scoreless on 0-of-2 field goals, 2 steals, 1 rebound, and 1 assist in 15 minutes) and junior wing Tramon Mark (8 points on 3-of-7 field goals, including 0-of-2 from 3, and 2-of-2 field goals to go with 2 rebounds and 2 assists) — had subpar outings, but both have dealt with significant injuries of late with Brazile’s being the most recent. “Literally right before tipoff,” Musselman said of when he knew Brazile would play on Satuday.

“I met with the doctors I think at, I don’t know, whenever I had to turn in the starting lineup. And then based on conversations, really, with (Hogs assistant coach) Keith Smart and I, as a player, if you warm up, you don’t want to sit and let it… “He did everything he could. I mean, he was rehabbing at all hours of the day.

He and Matt the trainer did a great job. Obviously he wasn’t his normal self, but he sacrificed for the team and tried to give us some minutes. That’s not why we lost.

I mean, he played on a bum ankle for the betterment of the team, which is, you want guys to be that team-oriented. ” With the loss to the Sooners, Arkansas finished 1-2 in the Crimson and Cardinal Classic while dropping to 17-14 all-time against OU in non-conference games as the Sooners will become an SEC member and a conference foe beginning next season (’24-25). Under Musselman, Hog teams slipped to 6-5 in regular-season non-conference games as part of a larger 18-11 overall record in neutral-site matchups (includes postseason records of 4-3 in the SEC Tournament and 8-3 in the NCAA Tournament).

Musselman fell to 101-46 overall as Head Hog, which includes a 56-13 record against non-conference opponents and a 45-33 mark against SEC foes (all three marks include postseason results). Next up for Arkansas is the team’s annual tilt in central Arkansas. The Razorbacks will have a week between games before playing it’s fifth neutral-site contest of the season (although the NCAA via its NET rankings criteria dubs it as a home game) in a matchup against Lipscomb at 5 p.

m. CT on Saturday, Dec. 16, at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock (SEC Network Plus livestream).

Against OU, Musselman started the quintet of Brazile, Mark, Davonte “Devo” Davis, Chandler Lawson, and El Ellis. Battle and Ellis combined to make 4-of-4 free throws and Davis got a transition dunk after forcing an OU live-ball turnover to give the Hogs a 21-19 lead. Battle would hit two more free throws at the 4:26 mark to tie the game at 23-all, but the Sooners closed the first half with a 14-2 run to take a 37-25 lead at the break.

Battle (7 points) led the first-half production for the Hogs. Arkansas had only 3 first-half assists on 8-of-27 field goal shooting (29. 6%) in the opening half, including 3-of-11 from 3 (27.

3%), and 6-of-6 at the free throw line (100. 0%). Defensively, the Hogs yielded 14-of-25 field goal shooting (56.

0%) to the Sooners in the opening half, including 1-of-6 from 3 (16. 7%), and the Sooners were 8-of-10 at the free throw line (80. 0%).

Arkansas was dominated in points-in-the-paint (26-10) and rebounds (19-11) in the first half. .