If Arkansas wants to win the SEC championship, this is a game the Hogs will likely need to grab in Tuscaloosa.
Every game matters in college basketball when we get into the second half of February, but this one matters more than others for Arkansas basketball. If the Hogs want to lift an SEC championship trophy, they very likely need to win this game against Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday night.
Arkansas has six SEC regular-season games left -- three weeks of midweek-Saturday pairs of games, in line with the normal pattern of the SEC basketball schedule -- and will have to go at least 5-1 in those six games, with one of the five wins being against SEC-leading Florida. If Arkansas can go 5-1 and beat Florida, it just might win the league. You can do the quick math to appreciate why this Alabama game is so important. If UA loses, it will have to win out to have any chance of claiming the league. That will be a heavy lift. Obviously, winning on Bama's home floor is a heavy lift, but a one-game chore is easier than winning five in a row, one of them in Gainesville against the Gators.
The good news for Arkansas going into this game is that Alabama is hardly a juggernaut at home in Coleman Coliseum. The Tide have lost multiple times at home this season, including to bubble-hugging Texas. Alabama did beat lowly South Carolina at home on Saturday, but the Tide did allow the Gamecocks to hang around for 30-33 minutes before finally putting the game away down the stretch. Alabama has played with its food this season and has not gotten the most out of its talent. The distractions and disruptions attached to the Charles Bediako saga have not helped. Coach Nate Oats has not had one of his better seasons in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama does not play great defense and is therefore susceptible to Arkansas' red-hot offense, featuring elite freshman Darius Acuff and teammate Billy Richmond, who roasted Auburn this past weekend. If Arkansas brings its A-game on offense and continues to shoot above 50 percent from the field -- something it has done in many of its SEC wins this season -- Alabama will be in trouble. The Crimson Tide very likely have to disrupt Arkansas' offense to win this game. The Razorbacks aren't an outstanding defensive team and need to lean on their offense on the road.
The other piece of this puzzle is that Arkansas is an inconsistent rebounding team. The Hogs need to get better in this area -- it's an urgent point of focus -- but making shots reduces the centrality of rebounding.
The Hogs know where they need to be great, and they know where they need to improve when they face Alabama. It's the kind of game which reminds us that March and its high-stakes basketball poker is just around the corner.