Sooner or later youth, inexperience fail to be excuses that fans buy

PHOTO BY ANDY HODGES | HITTHATLINE.COM

It appears the only consistent thing with Arkansas these days is a startling common inconsistency.

It happened again Saturday evening on the road against Texas Tech.

The Razorbacks cut a 12-point deficit to two with 1:01 left and trailed by three with 32 seconds left but could not complete the comeback, falling 67-64 to the 13th-ranked Red Raiders as part of the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

Same old story for this team.

Now the question is if youth and inexperience will be the reason for yet another game where the offense was completely erratic. By the way, when you hear the word reason given for something bad from a coach, that’s really just the excuse, a word coaches hate to use.

Mike Anderson might want to start coming up with a few … and fast.

The Hogs are now 11-8 overall and currently on a 1-5 streak in their last six games. No, Anderson should not be in jeopardy, but there will be fans that want him to be.

Of course, there will be some that know a guy who knows a guy who said he is, but remember, the ones talking don’t know anything and the ones not talking do know.

Saturday was yet another different version of the same old story where Arkansas’ offense disappeared for a brief period in the second half before a furious comeback in the final five minutes made it a three-point game with a 26 seconds left.

The Razorbacks, with plenty of time for some kind of quick points, then a foul to get a shot to win it or tie it … and they never got off a shot of any kind, turning the ball back over to the Red Raiders with six seconds left.

Jalen Harris got a foul, but Davide Moretti made both free throws to leave the Hogs fresh out of options before a layup at the buzzer for the final margin.

Too little too late is one way to look at it. Morretti scored 21 to lead all scorers and Tech’s defense was anotehr part. They came into the game as one of the best defensive teams in the country and they frustrated the Hogs all evening.

Daniel Gafford led Arkansas with 14 points with a perfect six-of-six from the floor, Mason Jones added 11 before fouling out in the final minute and Harris scored 11.

In the end, though, Arkansas didn’t have the experience to figure things out against the Red Raiders. That’s how you end up being down by 3 with 26 seconds left in the game and turn the ball without a shot 20 seconds later.

Yes, part of it is youth and inexperience.

But 19 games into the season there will be some that think that’s not really much of an excuse any longer.

And, by the way, not a reason, either.