Coach John Calipari and the Arkansas Razorbacks (14-9, 3-7 SEC) had their two-game winning streak snapped Saturday by the No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide, 85-81, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.
Alabama's red-hot pace was evident from the get-go, but the Razorbacks hung around despite poor shooting and trailed, 8-6, at the first media timeout.
Big man Zvonimir Ivisic put on a shot in the early-goings of the heavy-weight bout, as he scored a quick nine points with a triple. At the 10:40 minute mark, the Razorbacks were shooting 7-of-19 from the field (36.8%) but only found themselves down four, 22-18.
Later in the first half, after both teams traded successful defensive possessions, a Billy Richmond forced turnover on Alabama guard Mark Sears sparked some chippiness from both teams. With 3:41 minutes to go, Arkansas was still within reach, 35-32.
After going over five minutes without scoring and somehow keeping the game close, a putback dunk by Trevon Brazile brought Alabama's lead down to 38-34 with under 30 seconds to go. A last-second bucket by the Tide pushed their lead to six at halftime.
Whatever mojo Arkansas had in the first half wasn't there out of the gates of halftime, as Alabama stretched its lead to 10 to match its highest of the game.
Foul trouble spelled disaster for the Razorbacks, who had to play without Thiero for stretches because of his over-aggressiveness. With him on the bench and Arkansas having nothing going offensively, the Hogs trailed, 62-43, with 13:02 minutes to go.
Long lulls resulted in some Arkansas fans exiting the arena early, but the Hogs hung around and got Alabama's lead down to five with 1:44 minutes in the game.
Despite a strong late effort that gave Arkansas a chance to tie the game at the end, the Razorbacks couldn't overcome the early deficit and saw their winning streak snapped by the Tide.
Below are game highlights and social media reactions from Arkansas' conference loss...
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