A shootout between two high-scoring offenses could be brewing on Saturday when No. 17 Arkansas travels to face No. 21 Georgia in Athens in a Southeastern Conference showdown.
Georgia (14-3, 2-2 SEC) leads the nation at 96.4 points per game, while Arkansas (13-4, 3-1) is fifth in the conference (90.5 points) and No. 14 in the nation.
The Bulldogs are trying to regroup after Wednesday’s 97-96 overtime loss to Ole Miss, which ended a 12-game home winning streak. Arkansas bounced back from its loss to Auburn by hammering South Carolina 108-74 on Wednesday, its fifth time surpassing 100 points and its sixth-largest margin of victory in an SEC game.
The Arkansas offense was on fire against South Carolina, using a 19-1 run in the second half to put the game away. The Razorbacks shot 58.9 percent from the field and hit 38.1 percent of their 3-pointers, with 27 assists on 43 baskets.
“Our execution of what we were trying to do and where we were trying to get the ball was really good,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “They were helping each other get going.”
Razorbacks freshman Meleek Thomas missed only one shot, going 8-for-9 from the field and 5-for-5 on 3-pointers, and scored 21 points. It was the fourth time Thomas has scored 20-plus points.
Darius Acuff Jr., a five-time SEC Freshman of the Week product, came up with 18 points and 13 assists for his third double-double.
“Darius was a true point guard (against South Carolina),” Calipari said. “He played like a point guard.”
The Razorbacks were also boosted by the return of reserve Karter Knox, who suffered a hip pointer early in the Auburn game. Knox had eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench against the Gamecocks.
Georgia coach Mike White was not pleased with the defensive effort against Ole Miss. It was the third time in four games the Bulldogs have allowed 90-plus points.
“You can’t just outscore people in this league,” White said. “We’ve got to be a lot better defensively. I’ve got to do a better job defensively. They shot 60 percent in the second half at home with 10,000 people cheering for us, and we played with some energy. We made some shots and got loud in there, but gave up layups, gave up open 3s.”
Georgia’s Jeremiah Wilkinson regained his offensive form against the Rebels. He scored a season-high 32 points against after totaling only 14 points in the two previous games. Wilkinson made a season-high six 3-pointers against Ole Miss and scored 20-plus points for the seventh time. He leads the team in scoring (17.8).
“We have to be better and clean up the mistakes we made on defense,” Wilkinson said. “This game came down to not being able to get enough stops to win the game. We scored enough to win the game, but we didn’t get enough stops to win the game and ultimately that’s why we lost.”
Arkansas leads the series 28-17 and has won eight of the last 10 meetings. The Razorbacks won 68-65 in Fayetteville last season.
–Field Level Media
