KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Razorback men's basketball
team made a big run early in the second half to cut Tennessee's lead to
11 points, but the Hogs couldn't get enough shots to fall in the end as
they fell in their contest with the Volunteers, 77-58 in Thompson-Boling
Arena.
Arkansas was led by freshman
BJ Young, who had 18 points, and freshman
Hunter Mickelson,
who had 12 points. It's Young's 21st double-figure scoring game of the
season, which is good for tops on the team. Mickelson's 12 point output
was good for his second-highest of the season as he was 6-for-9 from the
field.
"In the first half, we didn't play with toughness," head coach
Mike Anderson
said. "I was proud of our guys in the second half and the big positive
in the game was our defense in the second half. We scratched and clawed,
but we didn't do things well enough to win on the road. Hunter
(Mickelson) gave us some quality minutes. Tennessee made 11 three-point
shots and several were contested, so you have to give credit to them."
The game's early moments were fairly even through the first three
minutes, but then Tennessee went on a 19-0 run to really distance
themselves from the Razorbacks. Arkansas tried to cut into the Volunteer
lead for much of the remainder of the first half, getting some great
post points from Mickelson. Eight of Mickelson's 12 points came in the
first half. However, Tennessee was very hot from behind the three-point
line as they shot 7-of-10 from behind the arc and took a 47-30 lead into
the locker room at halftime.
As the second half begun, it was Arkansas who had the hot shooting
hand early as Young scored five of the Razorbacks' first seven points.
Tennessee responded to the Hog outburst with a Jarnell Stokes dunk, but
then a three-pointer by sophomore
Mardracus Wade and then another layup from Young, Arkansas was only down 11 with 15:58 to play in the game.
Much of the scoring from there was traded amongst the two teams, as
the Hogs never got closer than 11 for the remainder of the game.
Tennessee hit some big three-pointers late in game from Skylar McBee and
Trae Golden to keep the Volunteer lead to double-digits until time ran
out.
Arkansas' shooting for the game stayed right around 43 percent for
the game as they were 24-of-56 from the field, but the team struggled
from three as they were only 3-of-12. Mickelson had the most solid game
of the night as he pulled down five rebounds to go with his 12 points.
The Jonesboro, Ark., native also had two blocks in the game to up his
total for the season to 64.
The 18 points from Young was his fifth-highest output of the season
as he was 1-for-2 from three-point land and 3-of-4 from the free-throw
line.
Arkansas returns home for its next game as it will face Florida on
Saturday in Bud Walton Arena. The game is set to tip-off at 5 p.m.
