Darius Acuff Jr. hit five 3-pointers among his 37 points, including a key 3 down the stretch, and No. 15 Arkansas held off 11th-seeded Oklahoma 82-79 in the Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinals in Nashville, Tenn., on Friday.
Acuff beat the shot clock on a 3-pointer for a 79-75 edge with 27 seconds left, and after Tae Davis’ layup, Acuff made one of two free throws with 10 seconds remaining to close the scoring.
Nijel Pack’s long 3-point attempt with six seconds remaining hit the rim, and the Sooners could not control the offensive rebound.
Arkansas (24-8) will meet surprising Ole Miss (15-19) in the semifinals Saturday. The 15th-seeded Rebels, who had lost 12 of their last 13 regular-season games, have not trailed in their three SEC tourney wins.
Trevon Brazile had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the third-seeded Razorbacks, who have won eight of 10.
Pack scored 19 points, Derrion Reid and Davis each scored 17 and Muhamed Wague added 13 for the Sooners (19-15), who had won six in a row and were left with the hope that their two SEC tournament wins were enough to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
There were 11 ties and 16 lead changes, and Acuff’s fifth 3-pointer gave the Razorbacks their largest lead, 76-69, with 2:27 left.
The Sooners were the first team out of the NCAA field of 68 in ESPN’s projections Friday, just behind SMU and SEC schools Texas and Missouri and just ahead of Auburn. All of those teams finished conference tournament play with losses.
Arkansas is a projected fifth seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Acuff, the SEC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, had 21 points in the first half and showed no ill effects after missing the regular-season finale against Missouri because of a nagging left ankle injury.
He was 11 of 21 from the field, 5 of 9 on 3-pointers and made 10 of 12 free-throw attempts. He had five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Acuff scored 18 of the Razorbacks’ first 24 points, and his 3-pointer just before the half cut the Sooners’ lead to 39-37 at the break. Pack had 16 points in the first half.
–Field Level Media
