The bleeding of Arkansas basketball continued Tuesday night at Missouri.
Despite another sluggish defensive performance and double-digit deficits, somehow, the Razorbacks still had a shot to win the game at the end.
But Jalen Harris’ weak attempt at a final shot fell short, giving the Tigers a 79-78 win and leaving some Hog fans scratching their heads.
Others will be screaming to the heavens … for what, though, I’m not really sure. Fans scream, but it’s hard to nail somebody down on exactly what they expect. Not what they hope for, but what’s their realistic expectation.
Later this week when we talk to Mike Anderson, it’s going to be repeated that this team is young, inexperienced and needs to learn how to win these close games.
They have won some this year, but not enough. There’s not much point hoping for a deep run into the NCAA Tournament because the odds now are almost at the point the Hogs are going to have somehow pull out a win at the SEC Tournament to get there.
With the record now sitting at 14-10 overall and 5-6 in the league, they’ve got to get some more wins just to have a shot at the NIT.
The way this team has been playing defense lately, that may even be a stretch. Missouri was 2-8 coming into the game. Arkansas had beaten them just a couple of weeks ago in Bud Walton Arena.
We’ll hear how tough it is playing on the road anywhere in the SEC. But to lose to a 2-8 team, giving up 46 points in the first half after a meltdown Saturday against South Carolina where a team that has to have defense gave up 46 points.
A lot of people were banking this week on Anderson’s track record of teams playing better towards the end of the season. That may still turn out to be the case this year, but the trend is not looking good.
All of this happening with the best 3-point shooter in program history in Isaiah Joe (he passed Rotnei Clarke on Tuesday night when he hit five 3-pointers, scoring 17 total) and a likely first-round NBA draft pick in Daniel Gafford (26 points against the Tigers).
Now back to those expectations.
Some fans holler about making the Sweet 16 should happen frequently, but the program has now gone the longest in modern history without getting there (23 years). The first came in 1958, the second in 1978. That started an 18-year run when the Hogs got to the Sweet 16 10 times.
They haven’t been since 1996. Arkansas also hasn’t had that many players with that level of talent to put on the floor at once since then, either.
Mississippi State is next on Saturday. The Hogs need a win in about as bad of a way as it gets. They are 4-7 in the last 11 games, 3-3 in the last six games.
As we said earlier, the trend is not looking good.
Oh, and if you think there’s going to be any sort of change coming, you can forget it. Anderson’s not going anywhere and nobody’s going to fire him.
Add that to the unrealistic expectations for some fans.
What nobody will say, however, is that not making the NCAA this year might put Anderson on a seat a little warmer than anything he’s experienced as a head coach.
Hogs basketball may not be winning right now, but it is going to be interesting.
For a variety of reasons.
