FAYETTEVILLE — Alabama had a chance to clinch an SEC basketball championship on the road Wednesday night, but it came to the wrong place and was playing the wrong team.
Arkansas went on a run of 31-9 in the second half to blow open the game. The No. 20 Razorbacks defeated the No. 6 Crimson Tide 81-66.
It was the eighth consecutive SEC win for Arkansas (18-5, 10-4 SEC).
The Razorbacks have won seven of the last eight games in the series against Alabama and ensured the Crimson Tide seniors will not win a game at Bud Walton Arena.
“There were not a lot of positives tonight,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “Going into Mississippi State (on Saturday), we have got to do a lot better, play harder and come in more focused. We can’t get out-toughed like I thought we did tonight."
It was a night when the Razorbacks shot 35 more free throws than the Crimson Tide — 43 for Arkansas, eight for Alabama (18-6, 13-2).
Emotions boiled over with 1:01 left when Alabama's John Petty and Arkansas' Jalen Tate were ejected after receiving their second technical foul.
“He said something he should’t have said to the ref," Oats said of Petty. "I don’t know what it was, but obviously he shouldn’t have said it.
“I’ll say this, those guys, those seniors have never won here and were really keyed in to winning here for the first time since they have been here. They played pretty hard. It is frustrating for them not to be able to get a win in a place like this.
“I understand his frustration level because we didn’t play particularly well.”
As for the free throw disparity, Oats tried to use some reason and wit in explaining his thoughts on the matter.
“Part of it is that we were fouling,” Oats said. “We have got to move our feet and get in position and try not to foul three-point shooters. We got some technicals. We kind of counterbalanced one of those, but they shot four free throws on the other.
“I thought we shot a lot of threes tonight (11 of 33), but I thought a lot of our threes came off drives and kicks. I thought maybe on sone drives, we have just got to do a better job of getting fouled on our drives like they were getting fouled on their drives, I guess.”
He thought his team worried too much about the foul calls.
“I told the guys after the game tonight that I thought we had a lot of guys worrying about the officiating,” Oats said. “They have no control over the officiating. If you worry about stuff you can’t control then you are not going to be very good about things you do have control over. We were’t very good at some of that stuff tonight.”
Moses Moody made 16 of 19 free throws and led Arkansas with 24 points. Fellow freshman Jaylin Williams scored a career-high 13, Tate and JD Notae had 12 each, and Justin Smith recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Oats was most angry with his team about fouling Arkansas on three-point shots. Moody hit a three-pointer and made the ensuing free throw in the first half, and Williams made two free throws after he was fouled on a three-point heave with the shot clock winding down.
“I think we fouled three-point shooters three times,” Oats said. “At least three. It might have been more, which is the worst play in basketball, in my opinion. You are just wasting a possession on that play.
“On some of those, our guys were late and not locked into what they should have been doing. We just kept sending them to the free throw line.”
Oats seemed to be hoping for a rubber match with Arkansas. The Crimson Tide beat the Razorbacks 90-59 on Jan. 16 — Arkansas' last SEC loss.
“It was a great chance to win the conference on the road against the second-place team in the league,” Oats said. “We didn’t take advantage of it. We have a chance to clinch, I believe, at least a share of it Saturday…We have got to figure out what we need to go into Mississippi State and win.”