FAYETTEVILLE -- Nobody has handled No. 6 Alabama in SEC play like the University of Arkansas did on Wednesday at Walton Arena.
The No. 20 Razorbacks beat a second top 10 team this season for the seventh time in school history with an 81-66 victory over the Crimson Tide. Arkansas also improved to 12-0 under Coach Eric Musselman when having four or more days to prepare for a game.
Arkansas prevented Alabama from taking the outright regular-season SEC title with a big surge early in the second half after Alabama built a 45-39 lead. The Crimson Tide are one win away from clinching at least a tie for their first SEC championship since 2002.
Arkansas notched an 86-81 victory in overtime at No. 10 Missouri on Feb. 13 as win No. 6 in its current eight-game SEC winning streak.
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Alabama (18-6, 13-2) fell by three points, 68-65 at Missouri, in its only previous conference loss. The Tide's largest deficit of the season came in an 82-64 loss to Stanford in Asheville, N.C., on Nov. 30 in the relocated Maui Invitational.
Alabama had two key players foul out in forward Herbert Jones and guard Jaden Shackelford, and tensions ran high with John Petty being ejected along with Arkansas guard Jalen Tate with 1:01 remaining.
Petty was ejected by referee Doug Shows when he picked up his second technical foul of the game seconds after fouling Moses Moody.
Petty appeared to bump Shows on his way off the floor and traded verbal jabs with members of the Arkansas bench before order was restored.
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"I don't know what happened with him and Jalen," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. "The biggest thing for our guys at the end of the bench ... I just wanted them to -- I don't know what Petty thought -- but I just didn't want any of our guys to say anything and just keep our composure and leave it alone."
Williams' way
Arkansas freshman Jaylin Williams came alive in the second half, scoring eight of nine points for his team during a stretch of two-and-a-half minutes after Alabama had built its largest lead at 45-39.
Williams made a layup and a jump-hook on back-to-back possessions, then his turnaround jumper after a Moses Moody free throw put Arkansas back on top at 46-45.
The Tide reclaimed the lead on a John Petty step-back jumper, but Williams took it back with a pair of free throws at 14:47 that was part of a 17-2 Arkansas run.
"We were kind of struggling on the offensive side, and Coach Muss believed in me and put the ball in my hands to make the right choice," Williams said. "That's what really happened."
Williams made 4 of 8 field goals in the second half, grabbed all 8 of his rebounds after intermission and finished with 13 points.
"Jaylin was not only great from a defensive standpoint, but then offensively, we really posted him up," Musselman said. "He got to the foul line seven times. He got eight rebounds, clogged the lane up on dribble-drives. But I thought us punching it into him when they had a smaller defender on him was really effective for us."
Block party
The Razorbacks protected the paint and finished with 11 blocked shots by five different players, largely thanks to a defensive strategy of keeping a defender near the rim to disrupt Alabama's well-regarded dribble-driving.
Guard Jalen Tate led the way with 4 blocked shots, while Moses Moody added 3 and Ethan Henderson 2 in just 8 minutes. Forwards Justin Smith and Connor Vanover had one blocked shot apiece.
Doubling up
Arkansas' Justin Smith notched his third double-double of the season with 11 points, 10 of them after intermission, and 12 rebounds.
Smith also added a steal, a block and two assists. His other double-doubles came against Oral Roberts (22 points, 17 rebounds) and Mississippi State (10 points, 10 rebounds).
Another 'T'
Alabama guard John Petty did not appreciate a no-call on his missed dunk attempt with 6:37 remaining in the game.
After Petty stepped back in bounds after his drive and dish to the wing, Jordan Bruner drove the paint and gave it back to Petty, who went up in traffic and missed the point-blank shot, which was rebounded by Jaylin Williams. As soon as the Razorbacks started heading up the floor, referee Steven Anderson assessed a technical on Petty, who clearly thought he was fouled by Justin Smith on the play.
Arkansas guard Moses Moody made 1 of 2 free throws to put the Hogs on top 64-54 at the 6:35 mark.
Stripe discrepancy
The Crimson Tide were not happy with the large disparity in free throws attempted, which wound up 43-8 in Arkansas' favor.
Even before Arkansas took eight free throws in the final 1:01, they had a big-time edge in free throws attempted. Alabama was whistled for 32 fouls compared to 18 for Arkansas.
Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said attacking the rim and drawing fouls were a big part of the game plan.
"We didn't want to settle," Musselman said. "We didn't want to jack up threes. We didn't want quick shots."
Neither team tore it up from the line. The Crimson Tide went 3 of 8 (37.5%) from the charity stripe, while Arkansas made 27 of 43 (62.8%).
Ethan aids
Arkansas forward Ethan Henderson got his first substantial minutes in weeks and contributed key plays.
In the first half, Henderson notched two blocked shots, two rebounds, a layup and an assist. He grabbed a missed three-point shot by JD Notae and fired back on the perimeter to Notae, who drilled a three-point shot with 26 seconds left in the first half.
Henderson had not scored since the Hogs' first game at Alabama on Jan. 16. He had logged only two minutes of playing time in two games since then.