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What can Anderson do to save Razorbacks’ season?
This Arkansas team has got to find a hot streak to meet the lofty expectations in March that people had in October. If not, it’s going to be a long offseason for Mike Anderson.
If Mike Anderson had any hair, it wouldn’t be that surprising to see him trying to pull it out.
Saturday’s 94-86 loss in Baton Rouge to LSU was just another one of those games where you look at the stat sheet and go, “What the …?”
Arkansas didn’t play that bad against LSU when you look at the numbers, but they never could seem to grasp the Tigers were shooting the way Pete Maravich used to in the building that bears his name.
LSU was 15-of-30 in 3-pointers, nearly half of their point total. The Razorbacks tried just eight shots behind the arc (making three of them).
The Hogs shot 55 percent from the field. They couldn’t quite seem to keep the Tigers from appearing to be wide open most of the afternoon for 3-pointers that they were hitting almost at will.
Arkansas won the field goal shooting percentage battle, they out-rebounded LSU on both ends of the floor and had one less turnover.
Much like looking at the stat sheet from the Hogs’ win over Oklahoma State last week, you had to wonder how LSU won this game … until you look at the 3-point shooting.
Fans are starting to get a little restless. The guess here is Anderson is, too.
Many don’t understand that Anderson is not Nolan Richardson and can’t do things like he did. Shoot, with the changes in NCAA rules and modern-day society, even Nolan wouldn’t be able to do things he used to do.
At the beginning of the season, Anderson didn’t bother trying to hide his enthusiasm for this team. It was easy to get the idea he thought this team was going to be something special down the stretch.
The way things are going, they will be special, but not the direction everyone thought back in October.
Arkansas is now 4-6 in the SEC. They have eight games left on the schedule and it’s going to be a tough, tough road stretch.
Five of the remaining games are at home. South Carolina and Vanderbilt, next week’s opponents coming to Bud Walton, are lower than the Hogs in the SEC standings.
Also coming to Fayetteville will be Auburn and Kentucky, two of the front-runners in the league this year.
Then there are road games against Ole Miss, Alabama and Missouri.
Unless this team makes a turnaround, these Hogs won’t be playing anywhere in March.
That’s not what folks expected back in October.
Which affects what folks will think in March.
And causes long offseasons for coaches.
