Mike Anderson is going to have a tough time putting Saturday’s 77-65 loss at South Carolina off on the team’s youth, inexperience and other excuses.
Arkansas simply collapsed in the second half after building a 13-point lead with 15:37 left.
There’s really no way to sugar-coat or put a good spin on it. At least there’s not going to be any way to do it many of the fans will buy.
At times this year Anderson has put these down gaps off on youth and inexperience. That’s a cop-out at this point. As Isaiah Joe said earlier this week they aren’t freshmen anymore.
And when Daniel Gafford gets himself in foul trouble early and can only play 22 minutes, getting just eight points and five rebounds, the Hogs are going to struggle. He played just five minutes in the first half when he scored half of his points.
He was out-played by the Gamecocks’ Chris Silva (16 points, 8 rebounds). A.J. Lawson led everybody with 24 and Keyshawn Bryant had 17.
Anderson got out-coached by Frank Martin, who didn’t let his team throw in the towel when they were throwing the ball all over the court in the first half.
In the second half, South Carolina was hitting shots while the Hogs couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat.
Point guard Jalen Harris led Arkansas with 17 points, Mason Jones had 15 and Joe was just 4-of-11 from the field.
The bench scored just eight points for the entire game.
The Razorbacks were 38.6 percent from the field in the game (South Carolina). The Gamecocks shot 54.2 percent, 60.7 percent in the second half.
The loss drops the Hogs to 14-9 overall and 5-5 in the SEC. They will go back on the road to the other Columbia, facing Missouri on Tuesday at 8 p.m.
