Razorbacks Didn't Let Go of Rope They Never Grabbed from Start

Arkansas puts up historically bad performance putting any tournament chances in serious jeopardy

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari directs his team against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Arkansas didn't let go of the rope against South Carolina on Saturday. It never even looked like it.

The Razorbacks never bothered to grab the rope in a 72-53 thrashing by the Gamecocks. It was never as close as the final score might indicate.

"We hit a dud," Razorbacks coach John Calipari said later. He tried to move past everything as quickly as possible, but hearing that brought back up one of his comments from players saying "my bad."

"No s***," he said about that. It was the same feeling calling this one a dud.

Nobody was expecting this. They didn't even get 30 points until six minutes were left in the game. Forget about Zvonimir Ivisic's big zero outing against Auburn because all of the Hogs were not able to hit a three-pointer against South Carolina until nearly three minutes were left in the game.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari disputes a call against the South Carolina Gamecocks in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Maybe worst of all it never looked like Arkansas' team had massive lack of interest even playing the game. That will be a question Razorbacks coach John Calipari will be dancing around until they go to Nashville to face Vanderbilt on Wednesday night.

We won't know for a few weeks if that completely knocked them out of any March Madness discussions, but it will be hard to get an argument for awhile.

There may have been a game in Razorback history as ugly against an opponent with just one SEC win at this point of the season but it's really hard to remember if it ever happened.

South Carolina Gamecocks guard Jamarii Thomas (6) drives past Arkansas Razorbacks guard D.J. Wagner (21) in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

Maybe the only chance at a win is if the Gamecocks don't send Calipari a bill to repaint the rims. The Hogs threw up so many bricks in this one that could be a possibility.

How bad was it? Calipari, who is already trying to juggling things around injuries, put freshman Jaden Karuletwa, in the game before the first media timeout of the second half. That required a dive into the roster and he didn't hang around long, but it was interesting.

Don't assume South Carolina played like a team looking to improve it's seeding for the tournament. There weren't a lot of questions of why they came in with just one SEC win this year.

The first half was the lowest output scoring since a game the Hogs played in 2003. It was probably stunningly bad.

Arkansas Razorbacks guard Johnell Davis (1) drives past South Carolina Gamecocks guard Zachary Davis (2) in the second half at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

The Razorbacks put Trevon Brazile on the floor to start again, which was the case against Texas on Wednesday night due to Adou Theiro's injury. The rest of the lineup was Johnell Davis, DJ Wagner, Karter Knox and ivisic.

The Gamecocks' Nick Pringle hit three buckets for a 6-0 lead and the Hogs got a running floater from Wagner in a slow start by both team. South Carolina led 6-2 at the first media timeout with 15:45 to play in the first half.

The Gamecocks started raining three-pointers and jumping up and down on the Razorbacks' building a 16-2 by the second media timeout with 11:42 left.

Arkansas shot just 12.5 percent from the field until that timeout (1-of-8) and turned the ball over an unusual six times. South Carolina pulled away hitting 7-of-12 from the field. It wasn't the best start for the Hogs.

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile (4) grabs a rebound over South Carolina Gamecocks forward Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk (31) in the first half at Colonial Life Arena. / Jeff Blake-Imagn Images

It was turning horrific by the third media timeout with 7:34 left in the half. The Razorbacks hadn't scored since a free throw for 3:50 and were a miserable 0-for-12 and shooting a whopping 6.7 percent for the game. It's hard to imagine that even being possible

Wagner finally broke the dry spell at 7:10 with a pair of free throws to cut the Gamecocks' lead to 18-5. Billy Richmond III's driving layup with 5:56 left before half finally broke the dry spell since Wagner's basket with 16:54 to play. That was nearly nine minutes of rims clanging and airballs.

It didn't get any better the rest of the half as the Hogs trailed at halftime, 32-14, shooting just 12.5 percent from the floor and didn't even come close to make a three-pointer.

HOGS FEED:

• Little surprising about Hogs' massive loss to South Carolina

• Massive defensive target sets official visit with Arkansas

• Van Horn won't stress this year regardless of Hog's in-game deficits

• Alabama technically wins, but Arkansas biggest winner in overall picture

• Van Horn honest about ace's status for Razorbacks

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