The University of Arkansas men's basketball team will get another shot at Vanderbilt.
After Arkansas closed the regular season with a 92-88 overtime loss at Alabama on Saturday, the Razorbacks will be the No. 12 seed at the SEC Tournament and open against No. 13 seed Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. Central on Wednesday at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
The Commodores beat the Razorbacks 85-82 at Walton Arena on Feb. 27 in their only matchup this season.
"We'll start talking about Vanderbilt as a staff when we get on the plane," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said in his postgame press conference Saturday. "Right now, we haven't talked about them at all because we had this game on our schedule.
"We'll try to get ready for them. They are a team that competes. They're well coached. They understand their roles."
It will be the first time Arkansas and Vanderbilt have met in the SEC Tournament since 2020, when the Razorbacks won 86-73 on another Wednesday night.
The rest of the 2020 SEC Tournament -- and all of college basketball's postseason games -- were canceled the next day due to covid-19.
Arkansas is 29-15 against Vanderbilt, but the Commodores have won three consecutive games in the series for the first time.
The Razorbacks are 5-1 against the Commodores in SEC Tournament games.
Wright stuff
Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell, who was sidelined earlier this season after suffering a head injury in practice, scored 20 points in a season-high 39 minutes against Arkansas. He hit 8 of 12 shots and 4 of 8 three-pointers.
Saturday was Wrightsell's ninth start in 27 games and his first since Feb. 17 when he had 16 points in the Crimson Tide's 100-75 victory over Texas A&M. He started against Arkansas in place of injured sophomore Rylan Griffen, who didn't play because of a strained calf.
Wrightsell missed four games after his head injury.
"We needed him in a bad way," Alabama Coach Nate Oats said.
Wrightsell's last made three-pointer on Saturday tied the score 74-74 with 21 seconds left in regulation.
"I'm just happy to be back out there and do something for our team to get the win," Wrightsell said of his game-tying shot. "Whatever we needed I was going to do it to help us win. I didn't realize how big a shot it was at the moment."
Wrightsell transferred to Alabama from Cal State-Fullerton, where he was an All-Big West first-team player.
"It's a great signing by Alabama as a transfer," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. "He can make shots, and he's a guy that shoots it with confidence."
Vs. Alabama
Arkansas is 36-33 against Alabama, but the Crimson Tide took a 30-29 lead in SEC matchups since the Razorbacks joined the conference for the 1991-92 season.
The Tide have a 24-8 lead in home games.
Estrada again
Alabama senior guard Aaron Estrada has beaten Arkansas playing for two different teams.
The first time Estrada faced the Razorbacks, he played for the Hofstra Pride when they beat the Razorbacks 89-81 in North Little Rock during the 2020-21 season. He had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists.
Estrada had 10 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals on Saturday. He shot 4 of 14, including 0 of 5 on three-pointers, and had 5 turnovers. But he scored four points in the final 5:58 of regulation, then four more in overtime.
"We did a really good job," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said of defending Estrada. "It's hard to do much more than hold a guy to 4-for-14 and there's five turnovers.
"I don't know how we could have done a better job, but he did make some big baskets down the stretch, which is what great players do."
Alabama is Estrada's fourth college team. Along with Hofstra, he also played at Saint Peter's and Oregon. He transferred from Hofstra to Alabama this year, has started every game for the Tide and is averaging 13.4 points and 4.5 assists.
Sad news
Mike Cawood, Arkansas' associate communications director for the basketball team, didn't attend Saturday's game because his father, Tom, died in his sleep on Thursday night. His father was acknowledged by Arkansas' radio crew of Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman as well as ESPN's television crew of Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes.
Working overtime
Arkansas is 1-1 in overtime games this season. The Razorbacks beat Stanford 77-74 in double overtime at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Saturday was the fifth overtime game between Alabama and Arkansas, and the Tide improved to 3-2.
The home team has won all of the Arkansas-Alabama overtime games.