Arkansas News Bureau
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas put together a five-game win streak by proving to be a resilient bunch, erasing halftime deficits and making big plays down the stretch.
On Saturday, the Razorbacks ran into a team that followed its blueprint to near perfection.
Arkansas’ Southeastern Conference win streak ended with a 73-58 loss at Alabama in Coleman Coliseum and it must’ve looked familiar to the Razorbacks. The Crimson Tide rallied from a 13-point deficit early in the second half, then knocked down buckets, got big stops and made free throws in the final minutes to win the game.
It helped the Crimson Tide (14-11, 4-7 in SEC) avenge the loss to the Razorbacks (13-12, 6-4) in Fayetteville last month and also snapped its four-game losing streak.
“Fundamentally, we weren’t good enough to pull this one off,” Arkansas coach John Pelphrey said during a postgame interview on the Hogs radio broadcast.
Alabama forward JaMychal Green led the Crimson Tide with 22 points and 9 rebounds. Guard Mikhail Torrance also added 12 second-half points. And senior Anthony Brock, a Little Rock native, knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:09 left to give Alabama a 67-65 lead it wouldn’t relinquish in the final minutes Saturday.
Courtney Fortson led the Razorbacks with 18 points and six assists, getting much of the production in a first half the Razorbacks dominated. Arkansas led by as many as 13 points thanks to Fortson, who scored 12 points in the first half and was effective off the dribble.
But it quickly changed in the second half. Alabama’s defense began to bottle up Fortson, limiting the guard to a 1-for-7 performance after the break. Alabama also responded offensively, going on a 16-3 run that helped tie the game at 45-45 with 14:14 remaining.
Arkansas still had opportunities to win despite losing the double-digit lead. In fact, freshman Marshawn Powell, who finished with 10 points and four rebounds, scored to cap an 8-0 run that gave the Hogs a 65-64 with 2:27 left. But then Brock hit an open 3-pointer on the other end to help the Tide regain the lead for good.
Fortson had a chance to tie the game with 35 seconds left, but missed one of two free throws. The Crimson Tide made six in a row from the stripe to seal the win.
“It was disappointing,” Pelphrey said. “I don’t think we played very well. We found a way to get the lead with under 3 minutes to play, but over the course of the basketball game, fundamentally this wasn’t one of our better efforts. Just some things we didn’t do well.”
For instance: Arkansas was outrebounded 38-24 and the Crimson Tide notched 15 second-chance points in the second half. Alabama also made 22 of 29 free throws, while the Razorbacks finished 6 of 12 Saturday.
Arkansas returns to Bud Walton Arena where it will play South Carolina (14-10, 5-5) on Wednesday night.
“We’ll go back, we’ll review those (fundamentals), we’ll drill those and hopefully we’ll be better at those things in our next game,” Pelphrey said.
Information from television and radio broadcasts contributed to this report.
