Thu January 23, 2025

By Lance Hawley

Sports Razorbacks

Hogs Get First Conference Win Over Georgia Wednesday Night

Hogs Hoops Arkansas Basketball
Hogs Get First Conference Win Over Georgia Wednesday Night
By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas appeared headed for yet another SEC loss on Wednesday night as they trailed by a double-digit margin at halftime, but then it all changed as the Razorbacks charged back to take a 68-65 win over Georgia in Bud Walton Arena.

The Razorbacks trailed 38-26 at intermission and were playing without star point guard Boogie Fland, who had thumb surgery earlier in the day. But Arkansas scored three points by Adou Thiero in the final 1.8 seconds of the game to break a 65-65 tie and hand John Calipari his first SEC win at Arkansas (12-7, 1-5).

"It's huge for the kids, for their mindset," Calipari said. "Did you see how we started the game? They're not robots, they're not computers. They feel. All I've been working on is mindset and talking to them how I'm working on my own mindset. I showed them a card that I have five things written on that I read before I go to bed, I read when I wake up in the morning and I take it with me, because if I start getting negative thoughts, I read it then. Because if I'm hurting, they're really hurting. If I'm tired, they're exhausted. We've cut back on practice time. We've cut back on some different things. I want them to be fresh — mentally and physically. You can't go long. And I'm telling the staff, we're not overdoing individual work. Let them do it on the court. Nice having Nelly (Davis) playing and I made the statement out there on the radio. Sunday, I spent about eight, nine hours in the office. One of the things I did was watch their game against Texas A&M — FAU — because I wanted to see how they played him again. I thought I knew, but let me go back. Maybe I missed something. No, they played him exactly how we're playing him. They did. And so the difference was he had a lot more shots than he had here, but did good stuff today.

"I thought Karter Knox was really good, making those free throws. How about the two free throws that we made when DJ (Wagner) made them? And then the offensive rebounds in the last play by Adou come on. Told them at halftime, ‘Guys, you missed every three, and we're still in the game. We're down five baskets. Don't go nuts. We're fine. We'll make shots.’ Our 7-2 guy is the only guy to make a three, and it was right at the buzzer at the end of the half. Come on. We're fine. But it's hard when you're not winning to get in that mindset that we're fine. If you won five games, you're looking at each other, we'll be fine. We're coming back and beating them. If you lose now, all of a sudden it's a different deal. But I'm happy for the kids. It's nice to get it off their back and now we keep playing. Let's see how we build on this. Play a good Oklahoma team Saturday. Oklahoma had these guys down at Georgia pretty good, and then Georgia came back and did some stuff, made some shots, got a steal or two, and all of a sudden won the game. But Oklahoma is good. Oklahoma, I think, won their last game too."

Georgia (14-5, 2-4) had its biggest lead of the game 38-23 with the clock running down in the first half. The Razorbacks were 0 of 10 in 3-point attempts at that point. Zvonimir Ivisic then nailed a 3-point shot with five seconds remaining in the first half to set the halftime score. It seemed that shot helped spark the Razorbacks to the rally in the final 20 minutes.

Arkansas has struggled getting to the free throw line in SEC action, but not on Wednesday. The Razorbacks shot 34 free throws making 29 (85%) compared to only 20 of 29 for the visitors.

"Okay, okay, so… We’re grinding it out a little bit more, if you noticed," Calipari said. "So that’s one of the things. We’re still playing fast, we’re still taking shots, but we’re doing some things to move people around. Second thing, did you kind of notice we said we gotta throw it to the post more? So that’s what we did. When you do that, you’re getting fouls. And when you’re driving, which we always do, there’s just sometimes they’re not."

Another area that has seen the Hogs hurt in SEC play is rebounding. But not on Wednesday night as the Razorbacks pulled down 40 to 30 for the visitors.

"But the biggest thing in this game is we out-rebounded them by 10," Calipari said. "Now that’s one of the best rebounding teams, offensively especially, in the country. So for us to go do that just tells you we’re not that far, just go. Without Boogie — we learned that he needed the surgery, I had Sunday all day to prepare, Monday’s practice, a lot of scrimmaging because we had to because new guys in different spots, and then Tuesday you can’t scrimmage, we went a little bit against the GAs. But I’m concerned about my team right now. We’re… I’m more locked in to my team than who we’re playing next. I gotta get us right, where it doesn’t matter who we’re playing. And we’re starting to get there. We’re starting to figure out how we’re going to have to play.

"Biggest thing, every player on the team helped us. Some helped more than others, that’s fine. No one killed us. So everybody helped us. Now, there are times we just need you to really play good, maybe one or two of you play great, so you can beat a really good team, a team you’re not supposed to beat."

Arkansas took its first lead of the game with 4:40 remaining when Knox made two free throws for a 59-58 advantage. The lead switched back and forth until Thiero was fouled with 1.8 seconds remaining the game and the score tied at 65. Thiero hit his first free throw, missed the second but got the rebound and put it through the basket for a field goal. Did Thiero miss the second on purpose?

"No, it just came off short," Thiero said. "I knew it was short, but my mindset was just finish this game. Get us one (win) under our belt, and I was able to do that."

Thiero topped the Hogs with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Knox added 13 points and six boards. Davis had 9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals. Davis' steal with 53 seconds remaining in the game allowed the Hogs to go up 65-63 at that time. Wagner, who moved to point guard with Fland's absence, scored 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.

Asa Newell topped the Bulldogs with 18 points while RJ Godfrey added 11.

Arkansas will now be at home again on Saturday when they host Oklahoma (14-4, 1-4) with the tip set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2. The Sooners got their first SEC win over South Carolina 82-62 this past Saturday. 

Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action

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