Arkansas basketball turns weakness into strength, beats Georgia for first SEC win

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FAYETTEVILLE — Adou Thiero heard all of the criticism. Through five winless games in the SEC, Arkansas basketball had been called soft, unable to rebound, bad at shooting and not good enough to compete in the best conference in the country.

Thiero and the entire Razorbacks’ roster had enough. The Hogs (12-7, 1-5 SEC) flipped two critical weaknesses — rebounding and free-throw shooting — on their heads Wednesday night in a 68-65 victory over Georgia, securing their first conference win of the season by erasing a 15-point deficit in the second half.

Arkansas has been one of the worst rebounding teams in the league this season, but the Razorbacks outrebounded the Bulldogs (14-5, 2-4) 40-30 and pulled down 18 offensive rebounds. Those extra possessions led to 33 second-chance points, with a large portion of that number coming from the free-throw line where Arkansas went 29 for 34. The Hogs scored 22 of their 42 points after halftime from the charity stripe.

“To win a game, you’ve got to do the things we haven’t done to win yet,” Thiero said. “Today, we decided to buckle down and really go out there and fight and show everyone we’re here to stay.

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Thiero was the hero, scoring Arkansas’ final five points. He provided a fitting finish to the game’s script, grabbing an offensive rebound and getting fouled with the game tied and 1.8 seconds remaining.

Thiero only made one free throw, but he grabbed his own miss off the second attempt for an offensive put-back that clinched the victory. He finished the night with a team-high 17 points and shot 7 of 9 from the free-throw line.

Arkansas took 21 free throws across two losses to LSU and Missouri last week. John Calipari left the loss to Missouri craving a more attacking offense that generated fouls and unguarded shots at the basket. His team answered the…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/arkansas-basketball-turns-weakness-strength-100952799.html

Author : Ft. Smith Southwest Times Record

Publish date : 2025-01-23 10:09:00

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