By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Configured for television, the Thursday night-Saturday afternoon schedule is good for fans of Southeastern Conference basketball; not so good for Arkansas and a couple of other teams.
The Razorbacks are the only team in the 12-team league that has three Thursday-Saturday assignments in January, a schedule that is certain to test the resiliency the Razorbacks displayed in the loss to Texas.
An 11 1-2-minute stretch midway through the second half was extremely encouraging. The No. 2 Longhorns led 68-57 with 14 minutes to play, but only 72-70 six minutes later. From there, Texas built an eight-point lead on a couple of occasions, but could not put away the Razorbacks. With less than two minutes to play, it was 86-84, the sort of perseverance that will yield dividends.
Every week, there are examples of how tenacity, treys, and turnovers can combine to work wonders. On Saturday, UConn led Georgetown by 19 and lost while Duke made 6-of-28 3s in a loss to Georgia Tech. Playing with three walk-ons on Sunday, Tennessee beat No. 1 Kansas 76-68 despite missing 14 of 29 free throws. Kansas had 16 turnovers to seven for Tennessee, shot 37.7 percent from the field to 48.1 percent, and 25.9 percent from long range to 50 percent.
For some reason, most of the Thursday night games belong to teams in the Western Division of the SEC. Like Arkansas, Auburn and Mississippi State have three each during the season. Ole Miss, the division favorite along with MSU, has a league-high four, but one of those is followed by an open Saturday.
Florida is the only team from the Eastern Division with three such assignments.
Kentucky, the league’s standard bearer, is spared the quick turn-around except for the South Carolina game in late February. Even then, the Wildcats are at home on Thursday night. In addition, Kentucky plays on Tuesday night a league-high five times, a fact that makes it even easier for the very talented Wildcats to dominate the SEC.
As for the Razorbacks, they must figure out a way to get through a month in which the quality of opponent only exacerbates the Thursday-Saturday schedule.
The SEC opener is Thursday night at Starkville against a Mississippi State team that recorded a huge victory on Saturday, winning at Oxford. The Bulldogs did it with Dee Bost driving to the basket at one end and Jarvis Varnado defending the basket at the other end.
During the first 24 minutes, Ole Miss had an 18-point edge in inside points, mostly because nobody helped when Varnado moved to block a shot. As a result, the Rebels had several putbacks.
When coach Rick Stansbury switched to a zone, there were no more easy baskets inside.
MSU should beat the Razorbacks. About 36 hours after arriving in Fayetteville, Arkansas is home against Alabama. The Crimson Tide has won four in a row, including its league opener at Baton Rouge. Already, that game looms large if the Razorbacks are to do well against SEC competition in Walton Arena.
Next week, Arkansas is home against Florida and on the road against Kentucky. The week after, MSU comes to Fayetteville and the Razorbacks travel to Ole Miss.
All things considered, a 2-4 start would be acceptable.
——
Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
