The Razorbacks avenged their loss to Auburn earlier in the season. They are staying in the hunt for the SEC championship.
Arkansas lost to Auburn by 22 points earlier in the season. The Razorbacks needed to beat the Tigers on Saturday night in Bud Walton Arena for all the obvious reasons, but more than that, they had a lot to prove. They needed to show they were a lot better than their AWOL performance in January against the Tigers.
Mission accomplished.
Arkansas has been so good at home this season because in most home games, the Razorbacks have been extremely efficient on offense. It has been very difficult for opposing teams to contain the UA offense. More precisely, Arkansas has been a wrecking ball in terms of getting to the rim and feasting in the paint.
Arkansas' 88-75 win over Auburn's toothless defense was built on the strength of 2-point makes. The Razorbacks finished the night 27 of 40 from 2-point range, which is over 67 percent (two-thirds) from the field. Few teams are going to lose when being that efficient on 2-point shots.
The two players who helped Arkansas become extremely efficient against Auburn were Darius Acuff and Billy Richmond. Acuff hit 10 of 15 shots, but he was actually tossing in shots from 3-point range, making 7 of 10 triples. Richmond was the 2-point specialist, making 12 of 15 twos to give Arkansas a reliable second option after Acuff. The two combined for 56 points. No other Arkansas players scored more than 11, but with Acuff throwing down 31 and Richmond pouring in 25, the Razorbacks had what they needed to cruise past Auburn in a game which was not particularly close.
Arkansas was not spectacular on defense, but given how well it scored all night, UA just had to make sure Auburn didn't do anything well above average on offense. 15 made free throws and 6 of 19 3-pointers weren't nearly enough for the Tigers to threaten the Razorbacks.
One item of appreciable concern for John Calipari coming out of this game: defensive rebounding. Arkansas gave up 15 offensive rebounds to Auburn. UA grabbed only seven, so it finished minus-8 in offensive rebounds. That's unacceptable. Winning a game can't allow a coaching staff to minimize specific weaknesses -- not with March just around the corner. The whole roster has to get serious about doing everything well and not leaving some details unattended to.
There is a lot of room for improvement at the defensive end of the floor, but Arkansas will be a tough out in future weeks if it can maintain the high-level consistency it has established at the offensive end of the court.