Arkansas closes chapter on Western Kentucky deal with loss in OT

Arkansas is finally finished with playing Western Kentucky and, hopefully, they won’t be doing any more deals like that anytime soon.

The Razorbacks lost in overtime Saturday night, 86-79, and ended a deal where they paid the Hilltoppers $1.5 million for two basketball games and a football game … and lost all three.

This loss was the final game in that expensive little series and it happened because the Hogs went stone cold from the field in the extra period, hitting just 2-of-7 while Western Kentucky got 23 points from Taveion Hollingsworth.

Arkansas was outscored 13-6 in overtime and committed four of its 16 turnovers in the extra period. The Razorbacks’ loss leaves Auburn as the last unbeaten team in the SEC.

“You can’t play well on the road and in a building that’s full like this and turn the ball over 16 times,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said later. “Certainly not happy about tonight.”

Desi Sills led Arkansas with 20 points and Isaiah Joe added 18 on 5-of-14 shooting from the 3-point line.

Arkansas moved into the lead in the first half on a 3-pointer from Joe at 24-23 but made just two field goals over the last six minutes of the half and trailed the Hilltoppers 33-28 at the break.

The Razorbacks came out firing in the second half by making seven consecutive shots to move into a 44-39 lead.

Neither team separated by more than one possession until the Sills’ wide open 3-pointer at the 1:39 mark to make it a 68-63 lead for Arkansas.

The Hilltoppers mounted a rally with Jared Savage’s 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining to force overtime.