Arkansas rallies, sputters late as Georgia pulls away in Athens

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The numbers will say 90-76, and that’s accurate enough.

What they won’t say is how close this one came to looking a whole lot uglier — the kind of afternoon Arkansas fans still haven’t fully recovered from after last Saturday at Auburn.

Instead of another early knockout, the Razorbacks at least stayed upright long enough to make Georgia sweat. For a stretch, they even made the Bulldogs wobble.

That’s progress. It’s also not a win.

The No. 17-ranked Arkansas walked out of Stegeman Coliseum with another SEC road loss Saturday, falling to No. 21 Georgia after spending much of the afternoon trying to undo the damage from a brutal opening stretch.

The Hogs trailed by 19 points, tied the game in the second half, then watched it slip away when the offense stalled again at the worst possible time.

If last week’s loss at Auburn felt like a blown tire on the interstate, this one was more like a car that wouldn’t quite shift out of second gear.

Loud engine. Plenty of effort. Just not enough forward motion when it mattered.

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Malique Ewin (12) shoots over Georgia Bulldogs center Somto Cyril (2) during the second half at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga. | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Georgia made sure the Razorbacks paid for the slow start.

The Bulldogs raced out to a 19-3 lead before Arkansas could get comfortable, forcing John Calipari to burn an early timeout and spend the rest of the half playing catch-up.

The Hogs’ lone field goal during that opening stretch was a three-pointer from freshman Darius Acuff Jr., a reminder that even on a rough afternoon, they still needed him to provide sparks.

Georgia never let the Razorbacks fully erase the damage before halftime, taking a 45-32 lead into the break. It wasn’t dominant basketball so much as disciplined basketball — the kind that punishes mistakes without doing anything flashy.

Calipari didn’t sugarcoat the start afterward.

“Just disappointing that the start of the game, the stuff that we talked about, how we're going to attack the press, and we screened on their man, and they were switching, and we talked about it,” Calipari said. “We went over it, we can't do that, and then you start down seven, eight, nine, I've got to call a timeout.

“On us. On me. Obviously if they're not responding, then I'm not communicating as well as I need to in that situation.”

That opening stretch mattered because it forced Arkansas to chase the game instead of control it.

The Razorbacks kept pulling within single digits, but every time momentum started to turn, Georgia answered with another bucket or another defensive stand.

Behind the arc 📍 pic.twitter.com/9yCAPtTfa7
— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball 🐗 (@RazorbackMBB) January 17, 2026

A rally that felt real — until it didn’t

The Hogs’ largest deficit came early in the second half, when Georgia pushed the lead to 55-36 with 16:31 left. At that point, it looked dangerously close to Auburn redux.

Instead, Arkansas finally found rhythm.

From the 15:55 mark to 5:52 remaining, the Razorbacks outscored Georgia 34-15. Acuff knocked down free throws. Defensive pressure picked up. The offense flowed just enough to turn desperation into belief.

When Acuff’s free throws tied the game at 70, the Hogs had done the hard part. They erased a 19-point hole on the road in the SEC — no small task.

Calipari thought the comeback was going to hold.

“What I loved is we fought, tied the game up,” he said. “I thought we were going to win the game, and then you make two errors and it's five. Then all of a sudden you miss a shot and it's seven, eight, ballgame.”

That’s where the sputtering engine finally stalled.

Georgia closed the game on a 20-6 run, turning Arkansas mistakes into quick points and forcing the Razorbacks to chase again. The offense that had briefly looked confident went cold, and the Bulldogs took full advantage.

“But to get it to where it was when we were down as much as we were was a pretty big deal,” Calipari said.

He wasn’t wrong. It just didn’t last.

Acuff Jr. 🤝 Richmond III pic.twitter.com/awHV3baLRe
— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball 🐗 (@RazorbackMBB) January 17, 2026

Lessons learned, but standings don’t care

Calipari leaned on a group that competed and fought its way back into the game, riding that lineup until Georgia created separation again.

“I put in a group that played well together, and they all competed,” he said. “They were all fighting like crazy, and then you just ride them, and that's what we did.”

Georgia’s pressure late flipped the script, forcing the Hogs onto their heels.

“They pressed, and we were struggling to get it in, struggling to get it up the court,” Calipari said. “Then all of a sudden, we were on our heels, and they were being the aggressor. That's who we wanted to be today.”

That’s the lingering frustration. Arkansas showed who it can be — briefly — but not consistently enough to survive another SEC road test.

The Razorbacks return home with a 13-5 overall record and a 3-2 mark in league play, still very much part of the SEC conversation. The Hogs host No. 10 Vanderbilt on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena, a chance to remind everyone that the road struggles haven’t followed them home.

Arkansas didn’t collapse like it did at Auburn. The Razorbacks didn’t quit. The Hogs didn’t fold.

They just ran out of gas.

Key takeaways

Slow starts keep haunting Arkansas — another early hole forced the Razorbacks to spend the game chasing instead of dictating.
The fight is real — erasing a 19-point deficit showed toughness that didn’t exist a week earlier.
Late execution still matters most — Georgia’s 20-6 closing run exposed mistakes the Hogs couldn’t afford.