SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The schedule says it’s an off day at the Puerto Rico Tipoff Tournament.

But not for Coach John Pelphrey’s Arkansas Razorbacks.

“We’ll be getting after it like there’s no tomorrow,” Pelphrey said of what’s in store for his team today. “We will be doing double sessions someplace.

“ There’s a good chance you won’t be seeing these guys in the rain forest.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The 18 th-ranked Razorbacks cost themselves any chance to have some fun in this Caribbean paradise today by tying a school record with 32 turnovers in a 67-51 loss to Providence on Friday night.

Including the 26 turnovers Arkansas had in beating College of Charleston 75-49 on Friday, the Razorbacks have 58 turnovers in consecutive games.

“Passing and catching is a problem for us,” Pelphrey said. “There were times [against Providence ] when you couldn’t tell whether our guys were passing it to the guys in the red shirts or actually were trying to throw it to the guys in the white shirts.”

Pelphrey then repeated the number 32 with disgust.

“I could have put my son and daughter out there and they probably could not reach that number [of turnovers ],” he said. “I don’t believe in playing the game that way. There’s nothing about me that likes that. Turning the ball over robs any joy out of playing this game.”

Pelphrey said Friday night’s ball-handling performance is the “most unenjoyable thing I’ve ever been associated with as a coach.”

The Razorbacks, who tied the school record for turnovers set against Grambling State in an 84-65 victory to open the 1986-1987 season, will play Virginia Commonwealth (2-1 ) at 4 p. m. Central on Sunday in the third-place game rather than playing Miami for the tournament title.

Against the Friars, Arkansas had problems with the ball from start to finish.

Starting senior point guard Gary Ervin threw the ball away 10 seconds into the game and senior forward Sonny Weems threw it away with three seconds left.

Ervin, Weems and senior forward Charles Thomas led the Razorbacks (2-1 ) with six turnovers each.

“It could be pressure, a lack of focus,” Arkansas sophomore guard Stefan Welsh said. “There’s really no explanation for it.

“ We just can’t turn it over 32 times and expect to beat a good team like Providence.”

Razorbacks senior forward Darian Townes, echoing comments made often by players after last season’s losses, credited the Friars (2-0 ) with being the more aggressive team.

“They wanted it more on the rebounds and deflections and steals and everything,” Townes said. “We just didn’t come to play.”

Providence did after Coach Tim Welsh had a two-hour meeting with his team to get an attitude adjustment because he was so upset about the Friars’ play in their 66-64 victory over Temple on Thursday.

“We came out [Friday night ] and played the way I wanted us to play — fighting, scrapping, grinding, clawing at people,” Tim Welsh said. “We played every possession pretty much the way I wanted us to play basketball.”

Sophomore guard Brian McKenzie led Providence with a career-high 18 points. Junior forward Geoff McDermott added 15 points and had two baskets and two assists in a 9-0 first-half run that broke a 19-19 tie and put the Friars ahead to stay at 28-19.

Sophomore guard Patrick Beverley led Arkansas with 14 points, but shot 3 of 11 from the field and had three turnovers.

Townes added 11 points in 20 minutes off the bench.

Many of Arkansas’ turnovers were because of blown opportunities on fast breaks, but the Razorbacks also struggled in their half-court offense against Providence’s zone, which also was the case against College of Charleston.

“You’ve got to be pesky and we got out in the lanes and did a great job of anticipating some of their passes,” Tim Welsh said. “We didn’t let them get into a rhythm against our zone.”

Pelphrey reiterated after Friday night’s loss that he had mentioned concerns about Arkansas ’ inconsistent guard play from the start of the season.

“Unfortunately, it’s turning out to be reality,” he said. “But we’re going to play the right way. It’s going to happen.”

Pelphrey said he won’t tolerate a performance such as Arkansas turned in Friday night and that he’ll keep running players into the game until he finds the right combination.

“It will be a revolving door, and I have no problem with that,” Pelphrey said. “They can think it’s embarrassing.... I don’t care.

“ We are not going to play the game of basketball that way. We’re simply not going to do it.”