LITTLE ROCK — During a 30-plus game college basketball season, judicious use of “must-win” is recommended. Now is the right time to apply that label to an Arkansas game.
Win or lose against Michigan this afternoon, the Razorbacks must beat Auburn on Wednesday night in Fayetteville. No ifs, ands or buts. The reason is threefold — Auburn is not very good, a league loss at home is almost impossible to make up and the Tigers are first up in a three-week stretch that will shape Arkansas’ Southeastern Conference record.
Those six games are split evenly, home and away, and Arkansas needs 3-3 to stay on track for a .500 league record that would be a noteworthy accomplishment and would put the Razorbacks in postseason play.
Arkansas fans should not despair in light of Kentucky 86, Arkansas 63. The Wildcats are far better than the Razorbacks and freshman Anthony Davis, almost certain to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, skews opinions of Arkansas’ talent.
Arkansas’ current record is as expected.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Long before the first dunk, it was clear that Arkansas’ first season under Mike Anderson would be one of baby steps. The loss of Marshawn Powell exacerbated the situation. Without Powell, the Razorbacks cannot throw the ball inside and count on a positive, a circumstance that leaves the Razorbacks with no room for error. As good as Anderson is at molding a team and riding herd, W’s are needed to convince the players that his approach and their work will yield dividends.
Good football teams win on the road, but the home court advantage in basketball is real and winning at home goes a long way.
Despite not winning a game on an opponent’s home court, Michigan was No. 20 in The AP poll this week and that was before beating No. 9 Michigan State in Ann Arbor.
Four games into the 16-game SEC schedule, only Kentucky and Vanderbilt are perfect on the road in the conference and both are expected to go deep into the NCAA Tournament. The confounding SEC results include Florida’s 11-point loss at Tennessee, 1-3 in the conference after an overtime loss at Georgia on Wednesday night. The victory was the Bulldogs’ first in conference play. Florida beat Georgia by 22. Go figure.
Each game is a fresh 40 minutes, but the winning recipe is constant — compete hard, get to the final minutes with a chance to win, and make a play — and that brings us back to the next six conference games.
Here’s a snapshot of those opponents:
• Auburn, Jan. 25, Fayetteville. The Tigers’ only conference victory was by one point at home against Ole Miss in double overtime.
• Alabama, Jan. 28, Tuscaloosa. One of the SEC teams on the fringe of the NCAA Tournament, Alabama got caught up in the officiating and was outscored 30-7 at one point in the Thursday night loss to Vanderbilt.
• Vanderbilt, Jan. 31, Fayetteville. The Commodores are supposed to have a new toughness.
• LSU, Feb. 4, Baton Rouge. Like Arkansas, LSU is 2-2 in the SEC. Like Arkansas, LSU is perfect in SEC play at home.
• Georgia, Feb. 8, Athens. One of Arkansas’ best opportunities to win a road game.
• South Carolina, Feb. 11, Fayetteville. The Gamecocks are the only SEC team without a league victory.
There you have it, a three-week stretch that is doubly important because it precedes a trip to Tennessee and difficult home games against Florida and Alabama.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His email address is hking@arkansasnews.com.