Arkansas Sports 360 - ArkansasSports360.com

1/18/2012 at 2:59pm

Maybe the only surprise in Arkansas' blowout loss at Kentucky on Tuesday was the final margin of victory for the Wildcats. Those 23 points meant — for people who follow these things — that Kentucky, for the first time in 17 straight games, finally covered the betting "line" established by the Las Vegas oddsmakers.

Even UALR played Kentucky close for more than a half on Jan. 3, and the Trojans led the Wildcats 30-27 at the break in a game staged in Louisville's ancient Freedom Hall. On the road last week, the Wildcats struggled to put away current mediocre SEC bottom feeders Auburn and Tennessee (both Auburn and UT are recruiting their way back into the conversation, however).

It seems like an NBA rookie team like the one John Calipari has assembled would be naming its score, especially at home, every night. Tuesday night on ESPN's Super Tuesday telecast, the Wildcats pretty much did that against Arkansas. We could be seeing UK take that next step to being worthy of the No. 2 ranking and making a serious run toward Coach Cal's first national championship. Watch out for Big Blue in March, is what we're saying.

Meanwhile, the Hogs haven't helped themselves on the road one bit this season. Considering the woeful shooting from the field and the foul line, it is amazing that the Razorbacks' 13-point loss at UConn in December wasn't more lopsided than the 86-63 thumping on Tuesday to UK. A week after the trip to Connecticut, Arkansas embarrassed itself with a bad effort against Oklahoma in Norman as well, though for road losses against below-average teams, it probably doesn't get any worse than last week's trip to Oxford, Miss.

At home over the holidays and leading into SEC play, Arkansas' youngsters gained confidence and improved defensively.

So, consider us convinced: Arkansas' game doesn't travel well. The same could be said for Missouri last season under Mike Anderson. But he left a lot of experience, some shooters and an inside presence in Ricardo Ratliffe for new Tigers coach Frank Haith to win 17 of his first 18 games in Columbia and rank in the Top 5.

Meanwhile, Anderson inherited a team whose best players, after junior forward Marshawn Powell was lost at the start of the season, are freshmen — and not Kentucky-type freshmen, mind you.

Consider, again, how well Kentucky's surely one-and-one power forward Anthony Davis, swingman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and point guard Marquis Teague played Tuesday night before 24,000 roaring Big Blue fans, and realize how they too had to scrap and claw to escape the likes of Auburn last week.

The SEC road will brutalize most teams. Even NBA Draft ready lineups like Kentucky's struggle. Last year's Wildcats lost six times on the SEC road. Maybe they weren't as NBA ready as this bunch, though; Calipari managed to hold over Terrence Jones and Doron Lamb.

So, should Arkansas fans expect anything better than what we've seen when the Hogs go on the road?

Watch Arkansas turn around Saturday and compete and possibly knock off No. 19 Michigan on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena. Watch the young, scrappy Hogs force turnovers, fight on the boards and hit half their shots.

Consider turning off the tube when Arkansas is on the road, because the season will continue to go the way it has through four SEC games: fun to watch when the Razorbacks are in the friendly confines of Bud Walton Arena, and a miserable experience to sit through when the Hogs take to the road.

Arkansas ran away from Mississippi State for a 98-88 win on Jan. 7, the highest scoring output by the Hogs in SEC play in what seems like forever. Imagine how the return trip to Starkville will play out.

Calling it "probably not pretty" would be selling it short. Find something else to do that day, Hog fans.

Arkansas doesn't have an easy run of league games at home — the likes of Vanderbilt, Alabama and Florida, the best three in the SEC behind Kentucky, are coming up soon — but the Hogs have shown nothing to indicate they are ready for what awaits them anywhere on the road, from Baton Rouge to even Columbia, S.C. Maybe Anderson and the team can steal one from the Gamecocks, or maybe in Athens, Ga., since those trips come later when we'll see even more development from this team.

But, without a steady inside presence and dependable outside shooting in a hostile environment with easily influenced officials, road teams are set up to fail, no matter what league we're talking about. Former No. 1 North Carolina lost by 34 points last week at Florida State.

When Nolan Richardson was building his program toward a run of three Final Fours and a national championship over six seasons, the road in the old Southwest Conference was frustratingly filled with potholes. Arkansas could score 100 and beat Moe Iba's TCU teams by 40 in Fayetteville and turn around and not break 50 and lose in Fort Worth. It was nothing to see a 50-point swing in margins between Arkansas and some lesser foe from home to road back in the late 1980s.

It continued to a lesser extent early on in the SEC; Mississippi State would cause the Hogs all kinds of problems in Starkville, only to be 58-point losers when the game was returned at old Barnhill Arena.

Mike Anderson knows he has to build up his front line to match the talent on the perimeter, and he knows he needs more shooters. Some of the needs were addressed in the November signing period, but even with Powell's expected return next season, the lack of a dominant, strong inside player who can defend and score will be obvious unless Anderson and staff can pull one out of a hat in April.

Arkansas has a commitment already from Little Rock Hall's Bobby Portis, a long and lanky post player, but he's still two years away from enrolling. The Hogs went from supposed favorite to sudden also-ran in December when Memphis high school power forward Jarnell Stokes chose Tennessee. He's suiting up now for the Vols, but it was disappointing to the UA fans closely following Stokes' recruitment that he couldn't see how much of an immediate impact he could made at Fayetteville this spring.

Sylvan Hills 6-foot-6 senior swingman Archie Goodwin, who was priority No. 1 on Anderson's recruiting list, wouldn't have helped the Hogs Tuesday night. To Anderson's and assistant T.J. Cleveland's dismay and despite their tireless recruiting efforts, Goodwin will be part of Big Blue next year when Kentucky comes to Fayetteville. He won't be as much of a difference between two programs as the next tall long-armed, NBA-ready forward that Calipari is sure to enroll between now and next season.

Recruiting will make the Hogs deeper, enough to step up Anderson's pressure, though that might not matter if tall teams like Kentucky simply throw it over them for dunks. But Anderson's team will have accomplished something without any coaching help that will matter when the Hogs go on the road next season: They'll be a year older and wiser.

If the team's shooting is improved, Super Tuesdays with the Razorbacks on the road will be worth tuning in again. For now, just look away, or follow football recruiting, which appears to be going great guns.

Award-winning columnist Jim Harris wasn’t around when Eugene Lambert first built the Razorbacks into a hoops winner, it only seems that way. His acumen for UA football and basketball history is renowned and he has covered the state sports scene since 1976. He knows his way around music and food, too. Email: jharris@abpg.com, and follow Jim on Twitter @jimharris360.

Tagged: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Kentucky Wildcats, Mike Anderson, T.J. Cleveland, John Calipari, Anthony Davis, Marshawn Powell