Tournament skid hovers over Hogs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Arkansas All-SEC players Bobby Portis and Michael Qualls weren't even in high school the last time the Razorbacks won an SEC Tournament game.

Portis, a 6-11 sophomore forward and the SEC Player of the Year, was a seventh-grader at Horace Mann Middle School in Little Rock when Steven Hill's 6-foot shot with 5.3 seconds left lifted the Razorbacks to a 92-91 victory over No. 4 Tennessee in the 2008 SEC Tournament semifinals.

Qualls, a 6-6 junior guard, was in the eighth grade at Broadmoor Middle School in Shreveport.

Arkansas has lost seven consecutive SEC Tournament games since Hill, a shot-blocking specialist but an unlikely maker of a game-winning shot, beat Tennessee in 2008.

The Razorbacks' losing streak started after the victory over Tennessee when they lost to Georgia 66-57 in the SEC title game. Arkansas has lost SEC Tournament openers to Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Vanderbilt and South Carolina.

"We're looking forward to turning that script around," said Mike Anderson, who is 0-3 in SEC Tournament games as Arkansas' coach. "The only way you do it is you've got to get past that first game so you can get in a rhythm and get to the next day."

That first game for No. 21 Arkansas (24-7, 13-5 SEC) is scheduled for 6 tonight in Bridgestone Arena against Tennessee.

"Just because we're not focused on the past doesn't mean it doesn't register we haven't won a game," Qualls said of the Razorbacks' SEC Tournament struggles. "So of course we want to win games.

"I feel like every good basketball player wants to win games. You can be one of the best players in the world, but I don't feel like you'll get the real recognition that you deserve if you're not a winner."

Arkansas, with Portis and Qualls ranking as the SEC's top 1-2 scoring tandem with a combined 33.1 points per game, has won more in the regular season than any Razorbacks team since the 1993-1994 national championship and 1994-1995 national runner-up teams.

Thirteen regular-season SEC victories are the most for Arkansas since it went 14-2 in 1994, and its 24 overall victories are the most since entering the 1995 SEC Tournament at 25-5.

"We just want to keep on focusing on making this a winning program," Qualls said. "Just stay humble, and everything else will fall into place for us."

The Razorbacks are considered a lock to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008 -- most bracket analysts list them as a No. 4 or No. 5 seed -- but Portis said Arkansas has plenty of motivation for the SEC Tournament.

"Just to show the world the Razorbacks are for real," Portis said.

Anderson said he's hopeful Arkansas has done enough to hear its name called on Selection Sunday, when the 68-team NCAA Tournament field is unveiled, but he stressed his focus is on the SEC Tournament.

"We're playing in it to win it," Anderson said. "I'm just so dialed into what's taking place right now with this basketball team. I can't look that far ahead."

Arkansas ended the regular season with an 81-78 loss to LSU at Walton Arena.

"We're coming off of a game where I thought where we left some things out there on the court," Anderson said. "So my focus right now is on this team, cleaning those things up."

Qualls said the consistency of Portis, who is averaging 17.8 points and has scored 10 or more points in 30 of 31 games, gives Arkansas a dimension it has lacked in past.

"One piece to the puzzle for why I feel like Arkansas hasn't been winning games is because we didn't have a dominant big man," Qualls said of past SEC Tournament failures. "We have one now, and that's big for us."

Anderson said as much as the Razorbacks have improved from last season, when they finished 22-12 with a second-round NIT loss at California, they can play better.

"We're not there yet," Anderson said. "There's a lot more work to be done."

Anderson said he isn't expecting another early SEC Tournament exit for the Razorbacks.

"I'm taking three suits," he said. "So we're getting ready for three games."

Sports on 03/13/2015