Arkansas Lets Opportunity Slip, Falls to Texas in OT

It was scrappy, and it was ugly, and ultimately the inexperience of the Hogs fell to Texas by a score of xx-xx in overtime. The Hogs had a chance to win the game in regulation, the Hogs were up 62-60 with 10 second to go and Daniel Gafford heading to the line. He split his two free throws, and the Hogs showed their inexperience. Texas didn’t call a time out and Arkansas, who didn’t recognize the situation to foul up three, allowed Kerwin Roach to hit an off balance shot to send things into over time. The free throw woes really hurt the Hogs win this one, going just 13-24 from the charity stripe in this one.

Arkansas had a shot to win things in overtime, but with the clock running out they opted not to take their final timeout and could only get a wild shot up at the buzzer before falling in their season opener.

Daniel Gafford led the Hogs with his first 20/10 game of the season. He finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. He shook off accidentally getting stepped in the face by a teammate and recovered to have a solid game. Isaiah Joe showed off that silky jumper, hitting five from deep and scoring 17 points. Jalen Harris and Mason Jones both started and had 11 points as well.

The Hogs started off with a surprising hot start, getting a 13-5 run. Then things went cold. Ice cold for the Hogs. Arkansas missed nine straight shots, freshman looked a lot like freshman and Texas stormed ahead to a 27-15 lead. Then in a pleasant development, the Hogs regained some composure and slowly worked their way back into the game. They outscored Texas 15-9 in the final 8+ minutes of the half to only trail 36-30 at halftime.

Then the second half was borderline unwatchable with a flurry of turnovers and bricks from both teams. Arkansas was able to take advantage and grab a second half lead because Texas started the half 2/19 from the field. Arkansas had a 57-54 lead before the Longhorns finally got a three to fall and tie the game up. The Hogs had a couple opportunities to put the game away but turnovers and missed free throws killed them.

Still it was a scrappy fight from a much less inexperienced team, many of whom were getting their first college basketball experience. There were plenty of positives and certainly a lot of room to grow. Most had chalked this game up as a loss during the offseason, but the very on brand manner in which Arkansas lost is what makes this one really suck.