Hogs Repeat History 30 Years Later; Take Down Blue Devils
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — On a night the 1994 national championship team was celebrated it was the undersized, unranked Arkansas that flexed their muscle and survived a late scare over No. 7 Duke, 80-75 in the inaugural ACC-SEC Challenge. The Razorbacks showed heart and hustle on both ends of the floor, getting the season back on track and avoid falling to .500 for the first time under coach Eric Musselman.
After a subpar performance from the Razorbacks in the Bahamas, the Hogs seemingly had the game hand at 75-63 after a three from Trevon Brazile with 2:16 remaining. Duke's star center Kyle Filipowski, who struggled with his shot all night, finally gave the Devils some life, but the Razorbacks made just enough plays down the stretch to hold off a late surge.
"I’m not looking at if somebody is an All-American or not," Brazile said. "I believe I’m one of those guys. Just going out there, you know, it’s a big win at home. It was a great environment. It’s good to have everybody on our side."
Without leading scorer Tramon Mark, it was Khalif Battle who took over in the second half, scoring 15 of his 21 points in the second half. It was only fitting that he made the final free throw to cap off Musselman's 100th win as Razorbacks coach.
Razorbacks' Khalif Battle drives inside against Duke Blue Devis' Tyrese Proctor on Wednesday night.
(Michael Morrison / allHOGS Images)
After a tit-for-tat in the first half, Battle's wing triple while falling away, gave the two teams separation with Hogs grabbing a 51-43 lead with 12:13 left.
"He and JD (Notae) might be related," Musselman said. "They both just kind out there ballin. Some of his shots you are like 'Oh no' and then they go in and you’re like 'Oh, great shot.'”
Musselman had exhibited frustration with the lack of passing averaging just 10.3 assists as a team coming into the game, the offense found new-found fluidity with 17 assists, as the pressure of the largest crowd inside of Bud Walton Arena (20,344) came crashing down on the Blue Devils.
The Hogs paired their newfound fluidity on offense with staunch defense, holding the Blue Devils to just 36% from the field and 10 blocks, 6 of which came from Chandler Lawson, and finally put a full 40 minutes of basketball together.
Students lined up for hours to see Arkansas take on Duke, and they were rewarded with the Razorbacks' best start in recent memory. The Hogs hung with the Duke Blue Devils in the opening exchanges. Filipowski picked up two fouls in the opening 5 minutes. The Hogs knocked down two early triples as the two teams headed to the under 12-minute media timeout tied at 13.
"Incredible home crowd tonight," Musselman said. "Just an insane environment. Real cool to experience that, even as kind of an old guy."
The two teams continue to match each other step-for-step. Neither team led by more than three points for the entire half as neither team shot over 40%.
Lawson put up a stringent defensive effort with three blocks in the first half despite being held to just three points, as Fillipowski was held to just three points in the first 20 minutes. The Razorbacks put on a much better passing display, getting to 10 assists at halftime, about its average for an entire game in the early going. Two three-pointers in the final 2 minutes from Jeremiah Davenport gave the Hogs a slender 33-32 lead at halftime.
The teams continued the seesaw coming out of halftime. Back-to-back precision passes led to easy shots inside as the Hogs took the largest lead of the night at just five, 37-32. Filipowski, after being a non-factor before intermission, answered every Arkansas punch on both ends at the floor to keep Duke in the game, until the punches became just too much. The shots never fell for the Blue Devils in time to avoid the upset.
The Razorbacks will take on Furman inside Bud Walton Arena 7 p.m. Dec. 4. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.
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