The Hogs weren't great, but they were good enough, and they're still alive in the SEC Basketball Tournament.
The Arkansas basketball team was not dominant or dynamic, but Darius Acuff was, and that was enough to send the Razorbacks to Saturday in Nashville. Arkansas will play in the SEC Basketball Tournament semifinals after grinding out an 82-79 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners.
Oklahoma had a lot of motivation and incentive coming into this game. The Sooners were widely viewed as being a "first four out" team in the chase for NCAA Tournament bids. The general consensus was that OU needed to win this game to have a realistic shot at getting into the NCAA Tournament field. The Sooners led 37-31 late in the first half and were competitive for all 40 minutes, but Arkansas showed signs of being a team that is ready to rise to the moment in March.
Arkansas held Missouri to 74 points in regulation this past Saturday. The Razorbacks, whose defense has been a sieve far too many times this season, showed more toughness once again in this game. They weren't elite, but they weren't terrible, and sometimes, that's enough to win. It was on Friday night. UA held Oklahoma to 45 percent shooting from the field, just 25 percent from 3-point range. The Razorbacks were able to prevent the Sooners from pulling away.
Oklahoma had one of the most efficient offenses in the country over the past few weeks in which the Sooners won six straight games and played their way onto the bubble. OU became a hot shooting team with excellent offensive rhythm. Arkansas was able to slow down the Sooners enough to make it matter.
Darius Acuff did the rest.
The SEC Player of the Year and SEC Freshman of the Year was once again the best player on the court -- not just in this game late Friday night, but of any of the four quarterfinal games played on Friday.
The numbers speak for themselves: 37 points, 11 of 21 field goals, 5 of 9 3-pointers, 10 of 12 free throws, 5 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals, and just 2 turnovers in 40 minutes, going wire to wire in a spectacular display.
Darius Acuff simply would not let Arkansas lose. Now the Razorbacks are into the SEC Tournament semifinals with a very real shot of facing No. 1 seed and regular-season champion Florida in Sunday's championship game. The Hogs have only 15 hours to turn around and play Saturday afternoon's second semifinal, so they need to get plenty of fluids and be sure they have enough in the tank.