by Despite a strong effort on the road, the Arkansas Razorbacks (14-7, 3-5 SEC) were unable to upset the No. 17 Baylor Bears (16-5, 5-3 Big 12) in the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas, as the Hogs fell to the Bears, 67-64, on Saturday.
Ricky Council IV’s 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field were not enough to overcome 15 turnovers and 14 second-half foul calls attributed to the Razorbacks.
Arkansas shot 50.9% from the field compared to just 33.9% for the Bears, but Baylor’s 24 free throw attempts compared to just 11 for the Hogs proved to be the difference.
Davonte Davis added 16 points and four rebounds for the Razorbacks. Jalen Graham played key minutes and added four points, nine rebounds and was a team-high plus-7 in his 25 minutes.
Arkansas now put on incredible back-to-back defensive performances in the first half against LSU on Tuesday and Baylor on Saturday. The two teams combined to shoot 11-58 (19%) from the field over the two first halves of basketball.
Baylor beat Arkansas 40-31 in the second half, and 13 of those points came on the charity streak.
Here’s a recap of Saturday’s game, which brought Arkansas back to 0-5 in real road games this season.
At the first media timeout, the Bears had a 7–2 lead, benefiting from four early fouls by the Hogs. LJ Cryer reached 10 points for the Bears with his second 3-pointer of the game just after 13 minutes. Davis responded with Arkansas’ second three-ball to make it a 14-8 Baylor lead.
Baylor freshman star Keyonte George fired a shot from beyond the arc to extend the Bears’ lead to 19-8. Arkansas held the Bears scoreless for the next 2:45 to cut Baylor’s lead to six, but eight turnovers by the Hogs proved to be the difference at that point.
A missed free throw by Graham was tipped by Black, who fouled and hit the ensuing free throw to make it a 20-18 Baylor lead with 7:15 left to play. A jumper from Council tied the game just 40 seconds later.
A 12-1 run through Arkansas ended with George playing one and one at 5:44. Musselman didn’t like the call of a blocking foul, and he drew a technical foul for venting his frustration. Cryer hit the technical’s free throws, and George hit his lone freebie to give Baylor a five-goal lead.
Graham knocked down a jumper to cut Baylor’s lead to 27-26 during the final media timeout of the first half. Another jumper from Council gave the Hogs their first lead of the game, and on Razorback’s ensuing possession, Davis drew one and one to extend the lead to four.
A steal from Graham turned into a transition blow from Davis to silence the Baylor fans and give the Razorbacks a 33-27 lead with 1:30 left in the first half. Neither team could score before the buzzer sounded and the Hogs took a commanding six-point lead into the locker room.
Council opened the second half with another jumper made, and Baylor ended a 13-0 Arkansas run with a layup from Jalen Bridges. After the terrible shooting performance in the first half, the Bears made five of their first seven shots in the second half to cut the Arkansas lead to 40-37 at the under-16 timeout.
The Razorbacks recorded their seventh team foul at 2:38 p.m. in the second half to put Baylor in the bonus. Less than three minutes later, George knocked down a free throw to complete a 3-point play and put Baylor ahead 45-44.
At the under-8 timeout, Arkansas controlled a 1-point lead, but four Hogs had at least three fouls at the time.
Makhi Mitchell was called for his fifth foul of the game sending him to the bench and Adam Flagler to the free throw line. Flagler hit both shots to tie the game at 53-53 with 4:51 left to play.
Baylor went on a 9-2 run out of the under-4 media timeout to create much needed separation. Council hit a pair of free throws, then hit a jumper right at the charity streak with 28 seconds left to cut Baylor’s lead to 62-59.
Jordan Walsh fouled the Hogs with 26 seconds left, resulting in one free throw made by Bridges. Seven seconds later, Davis converted a three-point play into a 63-62 Baylor lead.
Cryer knocked down two free throws with 10 seconds left to make it a 3-point game. Davis cut in and knocked down a relatively uncontested layup with just under five seconds remaining.
A pair of free throws from George made it 67–64 Baylor, and Davis was immediately fouled on the inbound pass to eliminate the option of a made three for the Hogs. A missed free throw by Davis was tipped to a wide open Joseph Pinion, who failed to make the three at the buzzer.
Next, Arkansas hosts Texas A&M for a 6 p.m. CT tip Tuesday at Bud Walton Arena. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
