Arkansas
Shooting concerns reappear for Arkansas basketball after stinging loss to Tennessee
A brilliant stretch of offense to close the nonconference schedule had Arkansas basketball feeling optimistic about the roster’s overall shooting. Entering the SEC opener against No. 1 Tennessee, the Razorbacks ranked fourth nationally in field-goal percentage (50.8%) while hitting 3-pointers at a 36.8% rate.
But preseason concerns appeared to be justified Saturday. The Hogs (11-3, 0-1 SEC) shot a season-low 37.7% from the floor against the Volunteers (14-0, 1-0), going 6 for 29 on 3-pointers and, even worse, 6 for 13 at the free-throw line.
Add it all up, and Arkansas got run out the gym in a 76-52 loss that represented the worst offensive performance of the year.
“Look, you don’t have to make all your 3s, but you can’t miss them all,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “You can’t miss 10 in-a-row, or you’re not going to win.”
DJ Wagner and Karter Knox hit on the first two attempts from downtown, but Arkansas then proceeded to miss 19 of its next 21 3-pointers. That drought coincided with a dominant Tennessee run that stretched the lead to double figures, and the Vols led 42-27 at halftime.
The offensive malaise wasn’t a total surprise. Tennessee leads the country in 3-point defense and is second in scoring defense, but it was a giant step back. Arkansas had scored at least 80 points in four straight games.
Boogie Fland and Johnell Davis represented Arkansas’ biggest disappointments from behind the arc. That duo combined to go 2 for 12, with Davis missing all four of his attempts. Davis had missed the Hogs’ previous two games with a wrist injury.
The Razorbacks’ leading 3-point shooter on the season is 7-foot-2 big man Zvonimir Ivisic, who entered Saturday 20 of 44. He went 1 for 2 against Tennessee, but he continues to struggle on the defensive end and has seen his minutes dramatically decrease in recent weeks.
Calipari needs to find a way to keep Ivisic on the floor. His impact stretching opposing defenses is too valuable. The Hogs play most possessions with at least two players who aren’t threats from the outside.
After the game, Calipari said the bad shooting numbers weren’t a product of poor offense. He thought his team generated quality looks, but the shots just would not fall.
However, he didn’t like how the misses negatively affected the Razorbacks in other dimensions.
“If we created a good look, and we miss some of them, I looked at them and said, ‘Guys, you’re not going to make every shot. Just keep playing. Fight.’ You’ve got to learn to fight when you’re not playing well. So this was a great learning experience for this team,” he said.
There are other, more important factors that played into the blowout loss.
Tennessee won the rebounding margin 51-29 and got 29 points from Chaz Lanier. Zakai Zeigler won the battle of New York City point guards against Boogie Fland, and Arkansas couldn’t have asked for a more difficult start to the conference schedule than a road game against the top-ranked team in the country.
Arkansas now has three days to regroup before a home game against No. 23 Ole Miss.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas’ official stay in Hoover and the SEC Tournament lasted just over three hours. The Razorbacks were one of two top four seeds to go one-and-done.
The No. 7 Ole Miss Rebels took a five-run first and made it stick in a 5-2 win.
“I would much rather be playing at least one more game and hopefully two just to kind of stay on rhythm a little bit,” coach Dave Van Horn said. “If we’d have been here since Tuesday and maybe won three in a row and we had to win two or three more to win it, maybe that’s more than you need. I might answer you differently. But it’s our first game. We weren’t ready to go home.”
Van Horn’s team should be a lock to be a top eight national seed, giving Arkansas home field advantage through the first two rounds of the postseason, should they advance.
They rank No. 5 in the Rating Percentage Index (RPI).
It might not be long before Ole Miss and Arkansas matchup again. As Arkansas awaits its fate with the selection show Monday, D1Baseball has the two teams facing off in a potential Super Regional. Here’s the full regional as of Saturday morning,
1. Arkansas (3)
2. Kansas
3. Creighton
4. Little Rock
1. Ole Miss (14)
2. TCU
3. Stetson
4. North Dakota State
Getting to the next round is the first order of business and lurking as the two seed in the Oxford Regional is TCU, which knows a thing or two about knocking out a SEC host school, blasting
The Hogs will be very familiar with the opponent of the first game in the potential regional. They have already faced the Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans in a two-game midweek series in mid-April, in which Arkansas pitching staff spun two straight shutouts, 10-0 and 4-0.
Ole Miss vaulted themselves back into hosting contention with at least a run to the SEC semifinals. The Rebels are now the No. 14 seed in the same projection, setting a potential rematch.
With up to 13 teams in the SEC making the field of 64, the SEC holds at least half of the regional hosting sites in both the D1Baseball and Baseball America’s bracketology.
Baseball America has another potential SEC rematch. The Tennessee Volunteers also brought themselves back into hosting contention with a semifinal run to the SEC Tournament, taking out No. 1 Texas before getting run-ruled by Vanderbilt.
The Volunteers just left Fayetteville to close the regular season, losing two out of three, could be making a return trip if chalk holds.
Here’s Baseball America’s latest Bracketology:
1. Arkansas (3)
2. Northeastern
3. Virginia
4. Central Connecticut
1. Tennessee (14)
2. West Virginia
3. East Tennessee State
4. Bryant
The No. 3 seed in Arkansas’ regional could prove to be quite the challenge. Virginia was ranked the No. 2 overall team in D1Baseball’s preseason rankings.
The Razorbacks will await its fate 11 a.m. Monday when the full field of 64 is revealed on ESPN2.
“We’ve got to tighten up as a group,” Van Horn said. “We can’t let that happen again. We need to have a good week back in Fayetteville and get ready to go.”
The Ole Miss Rebels had a scare in the outfield during their win over Arkansas in the SEC Tournament on Friday. While the ‘Rebs won 5-2, two of their outfielders were involved in a violent collision on a play where Razorbacks second baseman Cam Kozeal scored on an inside-the-park home run.
Kozeal hit the ball to right-center in the bottom of the 2nd inning and the ball was right between Ole Miss center fielder Isaac Humphrey and right fielder Ryan Moerman. Humphrey and Moerman ran into each other full-speed. Gloves, hats and sunglasses went flying. Moerman got the worst of it and was slow to get up while Humphrey was able to get up and limp to the ball.
Humphrey was able to shake it off and stay in, but Moerman had to leave the game.
Moerman, who started all 57 games for Ole Miss this season, hurt his knee on the play and is also in the concussion protocol according to the Clarion Ledger. The Rebels will take on LSU in the SEC Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon.
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After knocking off the Florida Gators in Round 2, the Ole Miss Rebels are now tasked with beating the two-seed, Arkansas Razorbacks in the quarterfinals.
In the new SEC Tournament format, the double bye holds even more weight as there is no longer double elimination rounds. The Razorbacks have the advantage and/or option to throw their ace against the Rebels second starter, which matters.
Back in early March these two teams squared off when Arkansas was the third ranked team in the country. After winning Hunter Elliott’s Friday night start 10-6, the Rebels pitching staff gave up 12 runs in each of the next two contests.
Riley Maddox was the starter in that contest and he gave up three runs across four innings while the bullpen gave up eight over the remaining five innings. It will likely be Maddox on the bump again today and Coach Mike Bianco will need Maddox to bring his best performance for one more resume building win.
The Razorbacks are 6-4 over their last four contests which includes a series win over Tennessee, a series loss against LSU and a sweep over then #1 Texas. Last season, Arkansas was known for their incredible pitching staff. In 2025, the Hogs just score… a lot.
In that 10 games stretch they have scored 70 runs, for an average of seven runs per contest. Ole Miss is 4-7 in SEC contests in which they give up 7 or more runs. The Rebs are also 6-4 on SEC Saturdays, typically Riley Maddox days. They are similarly 6-4 against SEC #1 starters.
What does all this mean? It’s a toss up. Maddox will have to limit the damage and go five to six innings. The Rebels offense needs to find its stride to keep up with a good Razorback offense.
Assuming weather cooperates, Ole Miss and Arkansas will play Friday at 3:00.
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