Razorback junior guard Ricky Council IV (#1) from Durham, NC draws a foul against Alabama Wednesday night at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville. Photo by Craven Whitlow.

By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 4 Alabama snapped No. 15 Arkansas' home winning streak taking an 84-69 win in Bud Walton Arena.

In a game that saw the two teams combine to shoot 59 free throws the Tide pulled away with 4:32 remaining in the game. Arkansas had rallied from down 65-56 with 7:26 remaining to within two. But once the Hogs got within 65-63 then Alabama went on a 13-0 run to end any hope of comeback by the home team before a sold-out crowd. The Tide hit 9 of 20 from 3-point range in the game.

Eric Musselman talked about the free throws that led to particularly Alabama making a steady trip the charity stripe. Of the 59 free throws, Alabama shot 36 of them and made 25 of them. Arkansas was 15 of 23.

"I can’t recall a home game that I’ve ever coached that an opposing team had 36 free throws attempted," Musselman said. "You know, I know they had talked about all our free throws last year. This year we’re at home and it happens. So, I don’t know if I’ve seen fouls with .5 seconds either, but it is what it is. Alabama deserved to win. They went through that stretch that was way too much for us to overcome based on our lack of shooting and our lack of stretching the floor out.

"I mean we take ten three balls attempted to their 20, so they took twice as many threes as us and we only got to the line 23 times. I don’t understand that. If we were taking a lot of three-point shots I would understand it. But we’ve got to take better care of the ball too. I mean we didn’t shoot the ball well and we had 15 turnovers and gave up nine threes.

 "So you add those factors in and you’re not going to win many basketball games. It’s hard to win right now when you’re not making threes, which I don’t know if we will. And then our free throw percentage has got to improve as well."

Alabama's leading scorer Brandon Miller was held scoreless in the first half. However he hit back-to-back 3-point shots in the late rally. With 4:04 remaining, Miller knocked down a 3 from the top of the key. On the very next possession he canned one from distance this time on the right side. He finished the game with 14 points.

"I thought Brandon Miller was phenomenal in the second half," Musselman said. "I thought in the first half we did a great job of executing the defensive game plan. We went under twice on him and he hit two big 3s. That’s what you need great players to do that are on your roster. He stepped up when the game was in the balance. It’s a team that’s playing with great confidence. They’re fourth in the country. They won at Houston."

Arkansas' Davonte "Devo" Davis and Jalen Graham tried to keep the Hogs in it. Arkansas only hit two 3-point shots in 10 tries and both were by Davis. Graham scored 16 points off the bench only missing two of his 10 shots from the field. Graham also had five rebounds and one block. Davis also had 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, one block and two steals. Graham's performance off the bench drew praise from Musselman.

"Well he played really good offensively," Musselman said. "He gave up the 3 in the right corner to (Noah) Clowney, which I thought changed the complexion of the game. I think that was when we were maybe a possession away. Offensively, I thought Jalen was awesome. I mean, I thought that he took good shots, he’s a good passer, you saw his ball handling. We just have to continue to work defensively because that Clowney 3, we were switching pick-and-rolls, so there was no reason really to help. But that’s one play and certainly Jalen was a huge bright spot for us offensively." 

Ricky Council IV had 15 points off the bench while Makhi Mitchell added 10 points and five rebounds. He fouled out with 7:26 remaining in the game.

Alabama (14-2, 4-0) was led by Mark Sears with 26 points. Noah Clowney added 15 while Charles Bediako had eight points, six rebounds and two steals. Alabama scored 24 points off Arkansas' 15 turnovers and drew the ire of Musselman.

"To be honest with you, I’m extremely disappointed in our lack of steals," Musselman said. "But I haven’t changed the game plan or the scheme. You get into conference play and I do think people take better care of the basketball. Like I said, we can talk about the last two years (but) we are in a completely and utterly different state and in a way more uphill battle than we’ve been since I’ve been here, to be quite honest."

When asked about the uphill battle this season, Musselman pointed to the injuries to Nick Smith Jr. and Trevon Brazile.

"I think we’ve had injuries in the past," Musselman said. "(Justin) Smith got back right away. I think he missed five games. Isaiah (Joe) missed a stretch. We struggled when both of those guys were out, but I thought when Isaiah came back we changed things quickly. Certainly Justin’s first game back we struggled at Alabama, but I thought we were able to gain some momentum.

"I mean, just the scoring and the shooting numbers, we’re missing … and I want to be perfectly clear: there is no excuse. Like, again, I’ve been around the game way too long and injuries are a part of the game. But we’re missing two guys that we had projected to play right around 60 minutes for us. We’ve got to keep searching and trying to figure it out."

Arkansas (12-4, 1-3) will travel to Vanderbilt on Saturday looking for its first road win of the season. The game will tip at 1 p.m. and televised on ESPNU. Vanderbilt (8-8, 1-3) enters the game coming off a 77-68 loss to Tennessee on Tuesday night.