FAYETTEVILLE -- There is a sure-fire remedy for Arkansas' men's basketball team to reclaim a chunk of the ground it lost the past couple of weeks in its pursuit of an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Razorbacks (18-7, 7-5 SEC) get a shot at No. 21 South Carolina on Wednesday at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
The Gamecocks (20-5, 10-2 SEC) are tied atop the SEC standings with Florida and Kentucky, and they appear to be firmly in the NCAA field with the nation's No. 21 RPI ranking.
Arkansas, after losing consecutive games against SEC also-rans Missouri and Vanderbilt, dropped from pretty solid footing for an at-large berth with the No. 28 RPI to the very fringe of the bracket with a No. 43 RPI.
"This time of year, I keep saying, the games get bigger," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "Obviously going against a ranked opponent, South Carolina, it gives us a tremendous opportunity.
"A great challenge but a great opportunity, and hopefully we can go in there and play some of our best basketball."
The Razorbacks are listed among the last four teams expected to be selected for the NCAA field by ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi, who has Arkansas as a No. 12 seed facing Seton Hall in a play-in game in his Monday projection. CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm listed Arkansas among his first four teams out of the tournament, along with Ole Miss, on Monday.
During Saturday's 78-70 victory over LSU at Baton Rouge, Arkansas flirted with disaster for a third game in a row, after falling 83-78 at Missouri the previous Saturday and 72-59 against Vanderbilt at Fayetteville on Tuesday.
The Razorbacks trailed by 14 points in the first half while LSU -- spurred on by the presence of Shaquille O'Neal and the rest of the Tigers' 1991 SEC championship team -- was dominating on the boards and in second-chance points.
"LSU, they were riding on a lot of emotion," Anderson said. "They had the '91 team there, Shaq in the house giving the pep talk. It was all set up for them."
The Razorbacks began fighting back late in the first half, and an early shooting spree in the second half led by Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon -- while the SEC Network broadcast was conducting an extra-long interview with O'Neal -- pushed Arkansas into the lead.
"I was proud of our guys' poise," Anderson said. "I don't think they panicked.
"I thought our guys withstood that [LSU first-half run]. If you look at the game as a whole, our guys brought the energy. I thought they brought the want-to."
Arkansas improved to 4-2 in SEC road games with the victory at LSU. The Razorbacks have trailed by at least 10 points in all six of their SEC road games, but rallied to win at Tennessee, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and LSU.
"The sense of urgency to me now is consistency, and do it for 40 minutes," Anderson said. "And get off to a good start, and that's going to be really important at South Carolina."
Anderson said he is also concerned about the Gamecocks' ability to clean up their own missed shots. LSU outrebounded Arkansas 50-30, leading to a 21-5 edge in second-chance points.
"One of the things that's really a concern is the rebounding," Anderson said. "They're one of those teams that will throw it up there and go get it. They'll chase their balls down. So we're going to have to match their physicality on the boards and keep them out of the lane."
Sports on 02/14/2017