NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It stood to reason the Arkansas Razorbacks would get into Tennessee's legs Friday night after the Vols had four starters play more than 30 minutes in Thursday's victory over Vanderbilt at the SEC Tournament.
No one expected the Vols to have trouble starting the game, but they were awful in the opening 20 minutes on offense before finishing like gangbusters while the Hogs went the last 11:35 with only two field goals.
Fortunately for Arkansas, it made 19 of 22 free throws during that stretch to survive and advance to today's semifinal.
That Arkansas did not make a field goal over the final 7:19 will not matter Sunday when the NCAA Tournament selection committee meets to finish the 68-team bracket.
The game will go down as a victory, and it most likely sewed up a No. 5 seed for the Razorbacks. Another Arkansas victory today might move the Hogs up to a No. 4 seed, depending on what happens in other tournaments, but with its last appearance being in 2008 the celebration is for simply making it to March Madness.
What was probably a miracle was that it took the 53rd foul of the game before someone fouled out. The officiating didn't favor anyone, but if the officials had been paid by the number of times they blew their whistles, they would be able to retire today.
They called 57 fouls and the teams combined to shoot 73 free throws in a game that took, well, it seemed like forever.
The teams pretty much mirrored each other. The Hogs were hot in the first half, and Vols were hot in the second half.
Arkansas made 16 field goals in the first half and six in the second half, while the Vols made four in the first half and 16 in the second half.
Tennessee pulled to within four but couldn't keep the Hogs off the free-throw line down the stretch.
Bobby Portis scored the first two of his 18 first-half points just 16 seconds into the game. Less than a minute later, Ky Madden had made a three, Anton Beard made a layup seconds later, and after Portis added a three and Michael Qualls got into the act, the Hogs led 13-0.
The Vols went into a zone, and after the Hogs made their first five shots they made three of their next 14. But Tennessee was struggling on offense. The ball wasn't falling with any regularity, from the outside or inside.
The Vols couldn't have been colder swimming in the Arkansas River last week. They were 4 of 25 from the floor going into halftime but had made 15 of 17 free throws, so the Razorbacks' halftime lead was 45-25.
Tennessee pulled to within 26-15 at one point, but Portis made two free throws -- at that point he had outscored the Vols 16-15 by himself -- and started a 13-4 run that was actually highlighted by what the freshman Beard was doing.
On three consecutive possessions Beard made pinpoint passes through the Vols' zone that led to field goals. He had four of the team's 11 assists by halftime, which helped the Hogs make 16 field goals on 31 attempts.
Tennessee wasn't the only team throwing a tight-lipped defense. The Vols had four field goals and seven turnovers, which the Hogs converted into 13 points.
In the second half it was Arkansas that struggled with the 2-3 zone. That is the nemesis of any team that doesn't have a pure shooter, and the Hogs are made up of scorers, not jump shooters.
In the end though, making 32 of 39 free throws was the difference for the Razorbacks, who got a great performance from Portis, the SEC's player of the year who scored 26 points to lead all scorers and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.
Sports on 03/14/2015