Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

1/15/2011 at 6:50pm

Image by Mark Wagner

Marshawn Powell led Arkansas with 17 points in Saturday's 70-65 victory againt Alabama.

FAYETTEVILLE — By the time Arkansas coach John Pelphrey made his way into the Bud Walton Arena media room Saturday, nearly 30 minutes had passed since Arkansas-Alabama ended. It ordinarily would have been plenty of time for the coach to gather his thoughts on the 70-65 victory and break down what went right for the Razorbacks.

Pelphrey, however, was initially at a loss when trying to make sense of what had just happened on the floor. Arkansas won, but it was hard to put a finger on exactly why or how.

“I’m not sure what we did well besides just hanging in there,” Pelphrey said. “I’m proud of these guys for that. I’m proud of them for that.”

Pelphrey had reason to be proud. Arkansas (12-4, 2-1) turned a game-long deficit into victory by playing hard and smart in the final three minutes. Alabama (10-7, 2-1) led or was tied with the Razorbacks for all but the final 55 seconds.

Scanning the postgame box was no help in figuring out what happened between the Razorbacks and Crimson Tide. Alabama shot better (43.4 percent to 42.3), had seven more rebounds (39-32) and even held an edge in blocked shots (7-4) over Arkansas, the nation’s top shot-blocking team entering the game.

Yet there the team was, taking a 66-65 lead on Rotnei Clarke’s jump shot off an inbounds play with :55 left. It was a play Pelphrey said he just scribbled up off the top of his head on the sideline, and it wound up giving the team the lead for good.

Arkansas then tightened up its defense and avoided collapse despite Michael Sanchez missing a pair of free throws that gave Alabama the ball back with 27 seconds left and the Razorbacks up just one. Sanchez later redeemed himself by setting the final score with a pair of free throws.

It helped that the Razorbacks hit 24 of 35 free throws and they were slightly better from 3-point range as both teams struggled from behind the arc. Arkansas hit 2 of 9 compared to 2 of 10 for Alabama.

Defense helped turn the game in the home team’s favor. Alabama committed 14 turnovers, leading to 16 Razorback points. Arkansas forced the Crimson Tide into two turnovers and a missed shot on their final three possessions.

Otherwise, Alabama controlled the game and seemed to be headed for a victory.

Forward Marshawn Powell, who led the team with 17 points in 31 minutes, had no real explanation for how the Razorbacks won. He couldn’t put his finger on why Arkansas emerged from the game with a victory that was good for moving the team to a second-place spot in the SEC West.

“We just battled, continued to battle,” Powell said.

Give the Razorbacks credit for that. Coming off yet another road loss — Pelphrey is now 4-21 on the road in the SEC — Arkansas fell behind by 10 early and seemed ripe for collapse. Instead, the Razorbacks hung around just long enough to believe they could rally.

It was far from perfect. In fact, the game was downright painful to watch at times — one crowd shot on the arena big screen captured two fans who appeared to be dozing off in the first half. Seriously.

That’s the sort of day it was for the Razorbacks. While the effort was there from the start, the execution was not. It was a frustrating day with the exception of the final two minutes of each half.

Arkansas cut a 10-point deficit to four with a 6-0 run to end the opening half. That gave the team some confidence at halftime, though the play didn’t immediately get any better.

Alabama led 47-42 with 11:37 left and seemed to be in full control. Pelphrey was visibly perplexed by how poorly his team was playing, walking out onto the court during a timeout with his palms turned up, shoulders shrugging and head shaking side to side.

Little-by-little the Razorbacks chipped away at the deficit. Even with shots not falling and rebounds hard to come by, they maintained the defensive intensity needed to hang around.

“Everybody had their mindset that we needed stops,” guard Mardracus Wade said.  “We had to pull this out.”

Somehow — even if the players and coaches couldn’t quite explain it — Arkansas did just that.

Tagged: Mardracus Wade, Alabama Crimson Tide, Anthony Grant, Rotnei Clarke, Marshawn Powell, John Pelphrey, Arkansas Razorbacks