UA faces tricky hyphenated foe

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson watches the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Southeast Missouri State in North Little Rock, Ark., Saturday, Dec. 20, 2014. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson is well aware that some of the nation's most storied basketball programs have lost nonconference home games to opponents with hyphens and directional references in their names.

Arkansas (8-2) thus far has avoided suffering an upset at home, a trend Anderson and the Razorbacks hope to continue when they play Wisconsin-Milwaukee (5-7) at 8 tonight in Walton Arena.

"Don't look at the names and let the names fool you," Anderson said, referring to teams who may be unfamiliar to fans. "Everybody's got players."

Michigan, Michigan State, Indiana and Nebraska from the Big Ten can attest to that. So can Ole Miss, Missouri, Mississippi State and South Carolina of the SEC.

No. 25 Michigan State became the last est Big Ten team to suffer an inexplicable loss when Texas Southern came into Michigan State's Breslin Center Saturday with a 1-7 record and left with a 71-64 overtime victory.

It ranks right up with New Jersey Institute of Technology and Eastern Michigan beating Michigan, Incarnate Word beating Nebraska and Eastern Washington beating Indiana.

The SEC has suffered its share of upsets, too, with Charleston Southern beating Ole Miss, Missouri-Kansas City beating Missouri, Arkansas State and South Carolina-Upstate beating Mississippi State and Akron beating South Carolina.

"A lot of kids are transferring here and transferring there," Anderson said. "So those teams are getting good players, and we're seeing that."

The Razorbacks got a firsthand look at a directional school with talent when they beat Southeast Missouri State 84-67 Saturday night at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock.

Compare that to Wisconsin-Milwaukee's 61-56 loss Saturday at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, and it might not seem as if the Razorbacks are in much danger tonight.

But Anderson said you can't compare scores. Arkansas always gets an opponent's best shot, as it did from Southeast Missouri State. The Redhawks (5-6) were within 10 points with 9:45 left.

"With this team here, every game is a big game, and I have to make sure our guys understand that," Anderson said. "I have to make them aware when they wear that Razorback uniform, people are playing tradition.

"They're not necessary playing these guys now. They're playing the history that we have.

"Southeast Missouri State had nothing to lose and everything to gain, and so I thought they played with a lot of emotion. Even as we had them down, they still kept fighting and fighting."

The Razorbacks, who played one game in 13 days before Saturday night, welcome the chance to play after just one day off.

"Those long, drawn out breaks are kind of tough to deal with," Arkansas junior guard Michael Qualls said. "When we have games back to back to back, we can carry momentum, just like how we did at the start at the year."

The Razorbacks started 7-0 and were ranked as No. 18 in The Associated Press poll before losing road games at Iowa State and Clemson.

"We're 2-2 in December, so we're all eager to make up for lost time," Qualls said. 'We can't do anything about those losses now, but just keep progressing."

Senior forward Alandise Harris said he's not concerned the Razorbacks may be distracted by thoughts of being home for Christmas as they play the final game before taking a short break.

"We probably won't think too much," Harris said. "We've been practicing hard every day.

"If we practice hard, you're not going to be able to think about anything cool."

Sophomore forward Bobby Portis was succinct in his thoughts about practice.

"I'm just ready to play again," he said.

Anderson smiled when told of the players' attitude about preferring games to practices.

"They said it, I guess they meant it, but I'm trying to get this team focused on the task at hand," he said. "I'm going to keep pushing them."

Sports on 12/22/2014