Razorbacks Can Make History With February Run

With No.20 Arkansas’ 83-75 victory over LSU on Saturday afternoon at Bud Walton Arena, the Razorbacks extended their streak to nine consecutive SEC wins with the only flaw in that streak coming on January 30 with a 81-77 loss on the road. against Oklahoma State in the SEC / Big 12 Challenge. The Hogs went 7-0 in February and improved to 19-5 overall and 11-4 in SEC play.

The Razorbacks finished with games this month and have two more regular season games on the schedule, in South Carolina on Tuesday (March 2) and at home for a makeup game against Texas A&M on Saturday (March 6). While the Hogs went 7-0 in February, the Aggies haven’t played a single game due to postponement after postponement (ultimately seven cancellations and one postponement), so the makeup game might even not to be played.

“Going a whole month without losing is a great achievement and a lot of teams don’t get the chance to do it., “Arkansas senior forward Justin smith mentionned. “I’m really proud of how we came together after the Oklahoma State game. I think we really understood it in a way. We’re playing our best basketball right now and we’re going to keep going, keep pushing. “

During the race, Arkansas avenged January’s losses to Missouri, Alabama and LSU with revenge opportunities executed in February. The other conference loss came when they fell 79-74 to Tennessee on Jan.6, and Tennessee was only on the schedule once. It is possible that they can complete their revenge tour if they meet the volunteers of the SEC tournament. This group was once 2-4 in the SEC game on Jan. 16 with an 81-68 loss to Missouri, a 92-76 loss to LSU and a 90-59 loss to Alabama with the loss to flights.

“Sure. Those games, like, when we lost to them in the back of our minds, we were like, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna get them both back,'” Arkansas junior guard JD Notes mentionned. “It’s something that you just have to sit down and sometimes enjoy it because, I mean, it doesn’t happen. And for us to do it, I mean, it’s special.

“I think the last two opponents in particular (Alabama and LSU), I think we were hampered by our performance, and I think we had that extra advantage for ourselves,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman mentionned. “I think even the Missouri game. You lifted those three games, and I thought they were all three. These are the three games this year that we weren’t happy with our performance.”

Even if the momentum takes a dramatic turn for the worse, the Razorbacks can’t do worse than 19-9 this season if they lose all remaining games (including at least one guaranteed game in the SEC tournament and the high probability of one game in the NCAA tournament. If Arkansas wins the next two games, they will have the SEC’s best record since scoring 14-2 in 1993-94, the year they won the National Championship. were 13-5 in 2014-15 and could tie that overall win but would have a better winning percentage due to one less loss due to the cancellation of play at A&M.

“Would we have liked the games at the start of the season to have gone better? -Probably,” said Smith. “The way we play now, I think those are just building blocks, and I think it’s just going to pay dividends in the long run after those two tough games in a row at the end of the season before the playoffs. , we’re just looking to build on that momentum. “