By Harry King
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas basketball fans are entitled to vent about the loss at Kentucky. It was embarrassing, discouraging, and just about any other derogatory description of preference.
What it was not was the end of the season.
Arkansas was outmanned by Kentucky. The Razorbacks do not have any first-round NBA draft choices; the Wildcats have more than one. Even at their very best, the Razorbacks would need help to beat the Wildcats.
Forget Lexington. At the very least, withhold judgment about this Arkansas team until the end of February.
All along, it has been clear that the Razorbacks’ schedule was front-loaded with some of the Southeastern Conference’s best teams and that a lull in competition would begin in early February. Coach John Pelphrey’s task is to persuade his players to compete this week and next and the week after despite the lack of immediate results.
In Fayetteville on Thursday, Arkansas’ goal is to get to the final two minutes or so in a one-possession game. At that point, it’s up to somebody to make a play.
That’s the way Florida beat Arkansas and the way the Gators slipped past South Carolina last week. Against the Gamecocks, Florida tried to protect a one-point lead by denying the ball to scoring machine Devan Downey. He wound up with it, eluded three Gators, and scored with five seconds to play. Florida’s Erwing Walker sailed up court and passed to Chandler Parsons, a 35 percent shooter from 3-point range, who nailed one at the buzzer.
Poor shooting, the malady that often jumps up and grabs favorites on the road, cost Mississippi State and Tennessee, both nationally ranked at the time.
At Tuscaloosa, the Bulldogs missed their first 11 3-point attempts and finished 2-of-18. Mikhail Torrance, who made 1-of-3 3s in a loss to Arkansas, connected on 4-of-8 in the victory.
Prior to the game, the Bulldogs were one of the nation’s leaders, making almost nine 3s per game. Less than two weeks ago, MSU hit 8-of-17 in the 82-80 victory over Arkansas. That night, the Razorbacks were just as proficient from long range, but the Bulldogs made 10 more free throws.
The odd thing about MSU’s horrendous shooting at Tuscaloosa is that six players misfired. The Bulldogs have seven players who have attempted 20 or more 3s and only one is below 35 percent.
Compare that with Arkansas where Rotnei Clarke is the only true 3-point shooter. Every Razorback opponent knows that and starts with a game plan to defend Clarke.
Sometimes, good defense is not enough. Clarke has made some long ones over defenders in good position. South Carolina’s Downey threw in a couple against Florida and his counterpart, Walker, did the same.
Clarke is shooting .476 percent from long range and only two other Razorbacks are above 30 percent, Julysses Nobles who is 7-of-19 and Marcus Britt who is 7-of-22. Outside of Clarke, the team is shooting .26 percent from outside.
There is no reason to believe that any of the other Razorbacks will suddenly find their stroke and deliver three or four 3s. That, in turn, means scoring on the inside against Jarvis Varnado, who is closing fast on the NCAA record for blocked shots.
No matter which way it goes, Arkansas faces another tough Thursday night-Saturday turnaround. The idea is to keep on keeping on and assess the record after the LSU game on Feb. 24.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.
