FAYETTEVILLE -- If beating one SEC basketball team from Alabama on Saturday didn't put the Arkansas Razorbacks in the NCAA Tournament, surely beating the other team from that state Tuesday night clinched it.
The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville followed up a 76-73 victory at Alabama with a 91-82 victory over No. 14 Auburn in Walton Arena.
Arkansas (21-9, 10-7 SEC) now is playing to improve its NCAA Tournament seeding.
The Razorbacks are No. 27 in the NCAA's latest Ratings Percentage Index, which ranks teams by their record and strength of schedule.
CBSSports.com projects the Razorbacks as a No. 6 seed to play St. Bonaventure in Wichita, Kan. ESPN.com has Arkansas a No. 7 seed playing Arizona State in Charlotte, N.C.
Arkansas closes the regular season at Missouri (19-11, 9-8) at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
The Tigers are in the CBS and ESPN NCAA Tournament projections as a No. 9 and 10 seed, respectively, and are No. 40 in the RPI, so a victory at Mizzou Arena would figure to improve the Razorbacks' resume and a loss wouldn't do much -- if anything -- to hurt it.
Selection Sunday for the NCAA Tournament is 10 days away, but Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson and his players didn't want to talk about that after beating Auburn.
"I always say if we do what we're supposed to do, we'll be where we're supposed to be," Anderson said. "You hear me say that every year."
Anderson said the goal is to win the national championship, and the SEC's only guaranteed bid to the NCAA Tournament is to win the SEC Tournament, which will be held next week in St. Louis.
"You can just see the competitiveness in this league," Anderson said. "It's unbelievable."
Senior guard Daryl Macon said the Razorbacks aren't concerned about where they stand in regards to the NCAA Tournament.
"If it happens, it happens," Macon said. "We're not the type to go on social media or anything and see if we're locked in place for the tournament. We'll find that out.
"Right now, we're just focused on trying to go and beat Missouri and hopefully try to win an SEC [Tournament] championship."
Senior guard Jaylen Barford said the Razorbacks have short-term goals.
"The NCAA thing, we're not really worried about that," he said. "We just keep playing and trying to win every game. Stayed focused on one game at a time."
Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl, whose Tigers (24-6, 12-5) are tied with Tennessee for the SEC lead, had no hesitation talking about Arkansas as an NCAA Tournament team.
Pearl said the Razorbacks' experience, with six scholarship seniors, makes them a dangerous team.
The seniors were part of Arkansas' NCAA Tournament team last season when the Razorbacks beat Seton Hall before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina 72-65. The Tar Heels rallied from a 65-60 deficit in the final three minutes.
"With their seniors, that team could really make a run in the [NCAA] Tournament," Pearl said. "They've got to find a way to make their free throws and get that problem solved. But if they do that, they're playing as well as anybody in the league right now."
The Razorbacks hit 19 of 30 free throws against Auburn. Their season average of 66.7 percent (451 of 676) ranks 313th nationally out of 351 teams.
Auburn hit 31 of 34 free throws to prevent Arkansas from making it a blowout, but the Razorbacks played well in other areas.
Arkansas shot 52.5 percent form the field and had 19 assists on 31 baskets. The Razorbacks had 11 turnovers -- an acceptable number given their uptempo pace -- and outrebounded the Tigers 39-37.
The Tigers shot 34.4 percent -- their second lowest of the season after a 31.7 percent performance in an 84-75 loss at South Carolina -- and hit 7 of 28 three-pointers.
Arkansas was ahead for 37:56 of Tuesday night's game after never leading in the Tigers' 88-77 victory over the Razorbacks in Auburn Arena on Jan. 6.
"They were better tonight," Pearl said. "They were much more aggressive, and we couldn't do anything defensively to disrupt them. They did whatever they wanted to do on the offensive end."
It was the final home game for Arkansas' seniors.
"It was a big thing because it was an emotional night," freshman forward Daniel Gafford said on the Razorbacks' postgame radio show. "We wanted the seniors to leave with a smile on their face even though they might be crying at the end of the night because it's their last game in the palace."
Gafford was dominant inside (21 points, 10 rebounds and 7 blocked shots), and Macon (16 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds), Barford (20 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists) and senior guard Anton Beard (11 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) were big on the perimeter and driving to the basket.
Ten Razorbacks played between 32 and eight minutes.
"We got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys," Anderson said. "I just think some special things are in store for this team as we start to pick up some momentum in terms of how we're playing. We've got more pieces that are starting to play well."
Up next
ARKANSAS MEN AT MISSOURI
WHEN 5 p.m. Saturday WHERE Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Mo. RECORDS Arkansas 21-9, 10-7 SEC; Missouri 19-11, 9-8 SERIES Arkansas leads 25-22 LAST GAME Arkansas beat Missouri 65-63 on Jan. 13 TELEVISION ESPN2 RADIO Razorback Sports Network
Sports on 03/01/2018