No. 20 Arkansas and Texas enter their Southeastern Conference border war in Fayetteville Ark., on Tuesday after almost polar opposite results.
The Razorbacks (21-8, 11-5 SEC) look to recover from a 111-77 loss to No. 7 Florida on Saturday, a margin of defeat that tied for the largest in coach John Calipari’s 34-year career.
Texas (18-11, 9-7) avenged an earlier home loss to Texas A&M with a 76-70 victory in College Station on Saturday that broke a two-game losing streak, the most recent of which was an 84-71 home loss to Florida last Wednesday.
First-year coach Sean Miller deflected when asked if it was the Longhorns’ biggest win of the season. They also have beaten currently ranked teams Alabama and Vanderbilt.
“I would tell you that it’s one of them,” Miller said. “Any time you can go on the road in this league, late in the season, you have to feel really good about accomplishing it because it is so difficult to do. We found a way to get back on the winning side of the ledger.”
Despite its drubbing, Arkansas remains in the driver’s seat for one of the SEC tournament double-byes that go to the top four finishers in the regular season, although its margin dwindled appreciably.
The Razorbacks are one game behind second-place Alabama (22-7, 12-4) and one game ahead of Missouri, Kentucky and No. 23 Tennessee (all 10-6 in the SEC) with two games remaining. Arkansas closes the regular-season at Missouri on Saturday.
“I’ve done this so long, stuff happens,” said Calipari, whose 2018-19 Kentucky team lost to Duke 118-84 on Nov. 6, 2018.
“This is not the team I’ve been coaching. I told them (players) we had a great February. We just had a dud of a game,” Calipari said. “Make sure you look in the mirror and be honest with yourself. We’ve been playing great. Let’s move on.”
The Razorbacks had won five of six and were fourth in Division I in scoring at 90.3 points per game before their least effective offensive performance of the season in Gainesville, Fla.
Arkansas shot 40 percent and was out-rebounded 51-31 by the Gators. Billy Richmond III had his fifth straight 20-point game with 22 and leading scorer Darius Acuff Jr. had 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting. He had six assists and three turnovers.
Acuff is averaging 22.0 points and 6.2 assists.
“They kept him from getting the ball,” Calipari said. “I told him, ‘Their will to stop you from catching the ball is stronger than your will to get open.’ There were times he just pointed, like someone else take it. He’s not done that all year.”
Former Arkansas guard Tramon Mark (23 points), Jordan Pope (17) and Dailyn Swain (11 points 10 rebounds) led the Longhorns over the Aggies, who shot 38.3 percent from the field. Texas A&M was playing three days after a 99-84 loss at Arkansas.
“(Mark) played lights out,” Miller said. “When he gets it going, he’s a terrific offensive player. Jordan looked like a terrific point guard today, and that’s what it takes when you get to the end. That was one of our best defensive performances of the year.”
Pope had only one turnover in 39 minutes as the primary ball-handler against the Aggies’ full-game, full-court press. He is averaging 13.1 points per game, one of four Longhorns in double figures.
