By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas entered the last week of the regular season confident it could wrap a first-round bye in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
But after dropping two straight games, including the 84-74 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, the Razorbacks had to settle for fourth place in the division.
Arkansas, which ended the regular season 18-12, 7-9 in SEC play, fell behind both Mississippi State (17-13, 9-7) and Ole Miss (19-12, 7-9) in the SEC West’s final standings. The Razorbacks and Rebels had identical records in conference play, but Ole Miss earned the third seed for the SEC Tournament after beating Arkansas in both meetings between teams this season.
As a result, the Razorbacks will face the SEC East’s fifth seed in a first-round game in Atlanta on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Ole Miss will play the SEC East’s sixth seed, South Carolina (14-15, 5-11) at 2:30 p.m.
Arkansas’ struggles over the final week has led to plenty of speculation regarding coach John Pelphrey’s job security. It’s a topic Pelphrey, who is in his fourth season, addressed after the Ole Miss loss.
“I am the head coach at Arkansas and we are getting ready for the SEC Tournament,” Pelphrey told Hawgs Illustrated on Saturday. “Obviously I have been in this situation before in terms of building a program and I believe in what we are doing. … To me, anyway, it is evident how close we are to winning four or five more games this season and how that would be putting a totally different spin on everything.”
Guard Rotnei Clarke, who scored 26 points Saturday, also addressed the speculation after the loss.
“It doesn’t affect us,” Clarke told Hawgs Illustrated. “I’ve got his back. He is a great coach and a great person and I am always going to be behind him and supporting him every day.”
The Razorbacks don’t yet know their opponent Thursday because Tennessee plays Kentucky today. If Tennessee (18-12, 8-7) loses, the Razorbacks face the Volunteers in the first round. If Tennessee wins, Arkansas will play Georgia (20-10, 9-7) in the Georgia Dome.
The Razorbacks played both teams in Bud Walton Arena this season, collecting a win against Tennessee (68-65) on Jan. 8 and a loss to Georgia (60-59) on Feb. 2.
No matter who Arkansas plays, the Razorbacks know the only way to reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 is winning four games in four days.
It’s a difficult task. One Pelphrey said will be impossible if his team doesn’t improve on the defensive end of the floor after allowing 88 and 84 points, respectively, in its final two games.
“We’re going to go back to practice here on Monday and really have a good, hard defensive practice,” Pelphrey said during his postgame radio interview Saturday afternoon. “And hopefully get some of that stuff back for us. You have no chance to win if you don’t have some good things going on defensively.”
