Daniel Gafford posted his 10th double-double of the season, scoring 29 points and pulling down a career-best 16 rebounds to spark Arkansas to an 82-70 win over Alabama in the regular season finale on Saturday.
Gafford had his double-double by halftime with 12 points and 11 boards. At one point in the second half he scored 10 straight points to put the Razorbacks in front by double digits.
The victory moves the Razorbacks past Alabama to clinch the No. 9 seed in the SEC Tournament next week in Nashville, where they will face Florida.
Isaiah Joe added 15 points and Desi Sills added 11 for Arkansas (17-14, 8-10), which now has won three straight.
Arkansas forced the Crimson Tide into 15 turnovers and scored 19 points off those miscues for a 13-point advantage. The Razorbacks also scored 20 second-chance points.
It was the third straight loss for Alabama, which enters the SEC tournament with a 17-14 record, the exact same record as a year ago.
The Razorbacks used an early 9-0 run to build a 26-19 lead with 10:29 to play. Arkansas led 36-31 at intermission but Alabama took more than three minutes to score its first points of the second half and could never catch up.
Arkansas has now won five straight over Alabama and six of the last seven. The Crimson Tide has not won in Fayetteville since 2012.
Arkansas 82, Alabama 70 - FINAL
In perhaps one of their most complete games of the SEC season, the Razorbacks handled Alabama behind 29 points and 16 rebounds from Daniel Gafford.
Gafford is the ninth player in Division I to finish with 25-plus points, 15-plus rebounds and 2-plus blocks in a game this season, joining the likes of Zion Williamson and Mike Daum of South Dakota State. He was special.
Isaiah Joe added 15 points and Desi Sills finished with 11. Arkansas improves to 17-14 overall and 8-10 in league play.
More from tonight's game later on WholeHogSports.com.
Arkansas 69, Alabama 57 - 3:29 left
If this is in fact Daniel Gafford's final game in Bud Walton Arena, he is leaving one hell of an impression on this fan base. After two more buckets, he's up to 27 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
Gafford has scored Arkansas' last 10 points and looks to be getting stronger as the game wears on. Hands down one of the best performances of his career. Desi Sills is the only other Razorbacks player in double figures with 11.
Arkansas 63, Alabama 54 - 5:23 left
Desi Sills is in double figures scoring for the third time in five starts. He has 11 points and is 3-of-5 from distance after a 3 from the right corner put the Razorbacks up 10. Daniel Gafford then added two dunks, one assisted by Sills and the other off his own miss at the rim.
Gafford is up to 21 points and 14 rebounds to go with two assists, two steals and a block. Gafford has a team-high nine points since halftime. About the only thing not going Arkansas' way today is its forwards' shooting numbers. Chaney/Bailey/Osabuohien are a combined 3-of-16.
Arkansas 49, Alabama 40 - 11:55 left
Jalen Harris hit a pair of free throws after being fouled driving to the rim late in the shot clock, then Reggie Chaney followed up an Adrio Bailey miss at the rim to put the Razorbacks up 12 - their biggest lead of the game.
Tevin Mack leads Alabama with eight points, and he and Riley Norris each have three since the break. Daniel Gafford has 16 points and 13 boards at the moment. He has a team-high four in the second half.
Arkansas 42, Alabama 34 - 15:46 left
Alabama forward Riley Norris broke Arkansas' 6-0 run to begin the second half with a 3-pointer, but Gabe Osabuohien knocked down his second midrange jumper of the year to push the Razorbacks' lead back to eight.
Alabama has gone zone a couple of times since the break, so Mason Jones has checked in for Jalen Harris. Mike Anderson is running with Sills-Joe-Jones-Osabuohien-Gafford at the moment.
Arkansas 40, Alabama 31 - 17:42 left
Daniel Gafford just made a filthy move near midcourt, making a defender miss before eurostepping in the lane for a layup. He's been a man. He's up to 16 points and 13 boards today.
The Razorbacks have their largest lead of the day thanks to Gafford's four second-half points.
Arkansas 36, Alabama 31 - Halftime
Daniel Gafford led all scorers with 12 points and 11 rebounds in 15 first-half minutes while Sills added eight on 2-of-3 from 3-point range. Joe chipped in six points and three steals.
Keyshawn Embery-Simpson scored five big points in the half, too, knocking down a long 2 from the right wing early in the half, then a 3 from the left wing with 43 seconds before halftime.
Big stat: Arkansas has turned eight offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points. Razorbacks have been the aggressor on the glass today, which we don't see all that often. It certainly helps that Gafford has been a vacuum so far.
The Crimson Tide went cold from the floor to end the first half. Alabama missed 11 of its final 12 shots following an 11-of-17 start.
Galin Smith leads the Tide with seven points while Lewis, Petty and Mack each have five.
Arkansas 32, Alabama 30 - 2:00 left first half
Daniel Gafford has a double-double - 12 points, 11 rebounds. He's also recorded a steal and blocked a shot. He's been ultra-aggressive on the glass and grabbed almost everything in his vicinity.
Desi Sills continuing to play well. He's now got eight points on 3-of-3 from the floor and 2-of-2 from deep, both from the left wing, where he's been tearing it up of late. Isaiah Joe has six points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals. He's having a solid all-around game today.
Galin Smith leads Alabama with six points while three other players - Lewis, Petty, Mack - each have five. Alabama has missed eight of its last nine shots. The lone make is a Lewis dunk.
Alabama 26, Arkansas 25 - 5:53 left first half
Daniel Gafford playing like a man possessed today. He has 12 points on 5-of-7 from the floor to go with eight rebounds with plenty of time left to go before halftime. He had a combined six rebounds in the Razorbacks' last two games.
Alabama, between the media timeouts, knocked down three straight 3s to take a 26-19 lead, but Arkansas answered with a 6-0 run behind two scores from Gafford and a midrange jumper from Isaiah Joe. Been a really fun game so far.
Arkansas 17, Alabama 17 - 11:59 left first half
It's been a pretty entertaining first half so far. Gafford has a game-high eight points and has accounted for 12 of Arkansas' 17 points thanks to a pair of assists. Desi Sills is off to a nice start, too, with five points on 2-of-2 shooting.
Six Alabama players have one bucket to this point and forward Galin Smith has four to lead the Crimson Tide. Alabama shooting 57 percent from the floor and 7-of-9 inside the arc.
Adrio Bailey will be at the line for two shots when play resumes.
Arkansas 8, Alabama 6 - 15:44 left first half
The Razorbacks fell behind 6-2 following scores from John Petty and Donta Hall, but Daniel Gafford and Isaiah Joe teamed up for the next six points to set the current score at the under-16 timeout.
Gafford has been strong early. He's got six points on 3-of-3 from the floor to go with two rebounds. Isaiah Joe hit Gafford for a score on a nice pick-and-roll, then Joe threw down his second dunk of the season on the next possession.
Solid start for Arkansas. The crowd has been energetic early on.
Pregame
Arkansas' starting lineup: Jalen Harris, Desi Sills, Isaiah Joe, Gabe Osabuohien and Daniel Gafford.
As I wrote earlier today in this story, Arkansas has shot 50-plus percent from 3-point range in three consecutive games for the first time in Mike Anderson's tenure. Joe, Sills and Mason Jones have combined to make 22-of-31 3-pointers from the left side of the floor since the loss at then-No. 4 Kentucky. Sills is 8-of-12 from distance in his four starts this season.
Tonight could very well be Gafford's last game in Bud Walton Arena. He's scored 20 points in two of Arkansas' last four games. For his career, Gafford is averaging 14 points on 63.4 percent from the floor, 7.2 rebounds and two blocks per game. A Razorbacks win would pull them and Alabama into a tie at 8-10 in SEC play, but Arkansas would own the head-to-head tiebreaker, which is important for seeding at next week's SEC Tournament.
It appears as least from shootaround that the Razorbacks will wear their 1994 throwback uniforms again today.
Alabama's starters: Kira Lewis, John Petty, Herbert Jones, Donta Hall and Tevin Mack.
Lewis, a 17-year-old freshman, leads the Crimson Tide in scoring at 14 points per game in 30 starts entering today. He also averages a team-high 2.9 assists. John Petty, a 6-5 sophomore, is Alabama's top 3-point shooter in SEC play, knocking down 37.3 percent of his attempts. Hall is one of the league's top shot blockers as well, ranking top 15 in the SEC in block rate at 4.8 percent. Jones and Ingram are the other Crimson Tide guards to keep an eye on though neither has been as effective offensively of late as Avery Johnson would like.