No. 20 Arkansas is hoping to turn its road struggles around when it takes on Oklahoma on Tuesday in Norman, Okla.
The Razorbacks have dropped their last two away games and are 1-3 in true road games this season.
Arkansas is coming off an 85-81 home win over LSU on Saturday where they shot just 38.9% from the free-throw line.
The Razorbacks had been strong at the line this season, shooting better than 75% before going just 7-for-18 against LSU.
Arkansas was able to overcome that deficiency, in part, because of the play of freshman Darius Acuff Jr.
Acuff had a season-high 31 points in the win.
“He’s a beast,” Razorbacks coach John Calipari said. “Really skilled and is wired and driven to get better. It means something to him. Those are things I can’t (coach).”
Calipari wants more from the Detroit native, though.
“He’s got an edge to him and I just keep working on his body language because he doesn’t understand,” Calipari said. “He gets mad at himself and he kind of … well, you’re affecting other guys. They’re looking to you. You’ve got to be the one talking and you’re fine.”
Calipari also said he wanted more effort on the other end of the court from Acuff, Arkansas’ leading scorer (20.2 points per game).
“How about this, defensively, do what you do on offense,” Calipari said. “How about going and getting a couple rebounds.”
Arkansas (15-5, 5-2 SEC) has won back-to-back games, but Calipari said his team wasn’t taking Tuesday’s game lightly, even though the Sooners are on a six-game losing streak.
“Really hard game,” Calipari said of the matchup.
The Sooners (11-9, 1-6) are coming off a heartbreaking 88-87 overtime loss at Missouri on Saturday where the Tigers hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to force overtime and then sank another for the win.
“I feel for my guys,” Oklahoma coach Porter Moser said.
The Sooners figure to need to turn things around quickly if Moser’s tenure is to extend past this season.
Oklahoma made the NCAA Tournament for the first time under Moser last season, his fourth at the helm.
The six-game skid is the Sooners’ longest under Moser and the program’s longest since late in the 2017-18 season.
While the Sooners have struggled collectively, Xzayvier Brown has not.
The junior transfer from Saint Joseph’s is averaging 21.5 points, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals over the last four games.
Brown leads Oklahoma with 16.5 points and 3.4 assists per game.
Turnovers could decide Tuesday’s game.
The teams are in the top half of the SEC and top 40 nationally in turnovers per game.
Arkansas is averaging just 9.9, while the Sooners average 10.0.
Since committing 17 turnovers in a loss at Texas A&M on Jan. 10, Oklahoma hasn’t had more than 12 in a game.
The Razorbacks are averaging just 6.3 turnovers per game in their last three victories.
–Field Level Media
