Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Arkansas Razorbacks Pick & Prediction JANUARY 11th 2023
With a trio of convincing double-digit victories to open SEC play, No. 4 Alabama soars into a matchup against No. 15 Arkansas on Wednesday at Fayetteville, Ark.
Inching back up in the rankings after they were No. 4 a mere four weeks ago, the Crimson Tide (13-2, 3-0 SEC) regained their top-four status after a convincing 78-52 victory at home over Kentucky on Saturday.
Freshman Brandon Miller scored 19 points with seven rebounds, Mark Sears had 16 points with six rebounds, six steals and four assists, while Jahvon Quinerly had 12 points. In shooting 48.1 percent from the field, and 51.6 percent in the second half, Alabama handed Kentucky its largest true road loss since February 2013.
Ethan Wilson
"I can't say enough about our guys and how hard they played on defense and how locked in to the scouting report they were," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "I thought Sears was unbelievable. He got in there and made a bunch of tough plays and rebounds. I thought Charles (Bediako) was great on (Kentucky's Oscar) Tshiebwe."
Tshiebwe, the reigning national player of the year, was held to four points on 1-of-7 shooting.
"I thought we showed growth," Oats said. "We were up 27 against Ole Miss (last Tuesday) and let them cut it to 15. ... I sat in the huddle and asked, 'What are we going to do from here?' And we pushed the lead to 21 instead of letting them back in it."
Alabama is on a four-game winning streak since a 100-90 loss to Gonzaga on Dec. 17. The Crimson Tide's only other loss was to former No. 2 UConn, 82-67 on Nov. 25.
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Miller leads Alabama with 19.1 points per game and 8.5 rebounds, while Sears scores 14.7 points.
The start of SEC play has not been as kind to Arkansas (12-3, 1-2). The Razorbacks were ranked No. 9 when they opened conference play with a 60-57 loss at LSU on Dec. 28.
Arkansas dropped to No. 13 last week and split two games, getting a home win 74-68 over No. 20 Missouri on Wednesday and losing 72-59 at No. 22 Auburn on Saturday. Anthony Black scored 23 for the Razorbacks on Saturday, while Ricky Council IV had 14. Council leads four double-digit scorers with 18.1 points per game.
Arkansas is expected to lean into its defense, which is 15th in the nation with 9.8 steals per game but had just four against Auburn. The Razorbacks outrebounded the Tigers on Saturday 45-32, with Jordan Walsh grabbing a career-high 10 boards.
"The defensive game plan has not changed, other than the execution by some of our guys," Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said. "We had four steals (against Auburn) and two of them were by our power forward/center Kamani Johnson. You can't play 35, 36 minutes, and not have a steal in our system. And we're struggling shooting."
Alabama has won two of the last three games in the matchup, but Arkansas has won seven of nine going back to January 2015.
--Field Level Media
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Arkansas Razorbacks Recap FEB 24TH 2021
Arkansas fans chanted for sophomore Daniel Gafford to return for one more year, and it was hard to blame them the way Gafford dominated Saturday.
Gafford had 29 points and a career-high 16 rebounds to lead Arkansas to an 82-70 win over Alabama in an SEC contest at Fayetteville, Ark.
It was the final home game of the season for Arkansas and possibly the final home game for Gafford, a prospect for the upcoming NBA draft.
Arkansas (17-14, 8-10 SEC) has now won three games in a row following a six-game losing streak and will be the No. 9 seed for the upcoming SEC tournament.
A team teetering on the NCAA tournament bubble most of the season, Alabama (17-14, 8-10) has lost three in a row and will be the No. 10 seed in the SEC tournament.
Leading 36-31 at halftime, Arkansas gradually wore out Alabama with its full-court defensive pressure, taking a 49-37 lead with 13:00 remaining.
Alabama managed to cut its deficit to 56-49 with 7:45 remaining, but a corner 3-pointer by Desi Sills and a follow-up dunk by Gafford quickly restored the Arkansas lead to 12 at 61-49 with 6:56 left.
The Razorbacks never looked back from there, going on an 8-0 run to take a 75-57 lead with 3:08 remaining.
Gafford went 11 of 17 from the field and 7 of 9 from the free-throw line. Freshman guard Isaiah Joe added 15 points for the Razorbacks, who only committed eight turnovers.
Junior Tevin Mack scored 14 points to lead Alabama, which committed 15 turnovers and went 10 of 20 from the free-throw line.
Alabama went on a 9-0 run in the first half to take a 26-19 lead with 10:29 remaining in the first half, but Arkansas answered back.
The Razorbacks used a 10-0 run to take a 27-26 lead with 5:17 left in the half and ultimately took a 36-31 lead at halftime.
--Field Level Media
- NCAAB
