FAYETTEVILLE — Alabama will have to wait to celebrate an SEC basketball championship.
The No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks beat the No. 6 Crimson Tide 81-66 on Wednesday night at Walton Arena to avenge a 31-point loss at Alabama on Jan. 16 and prevent the visitors from winning their first outright SEC regular-season title since 2002, at least for a few more days.
“Their tickets came in or whoever they’re bringing to the game, and they brought everybody’s wife and the AD [Greg Byrne] and everybody,” said University of Arkansas freshman guard Moses Moody, who scored 24 points. “They were ready to come celebrate on our floor.
“That was disrespectful. That’s how I felt — that’s how we felt. There ain’t no disrespect without retaliation.” Arkansas (18-5, 10-4) won its eighth consecutive SEC game since losing to the Tide (18-6, 13-2) in Coleman Coliseum 90-59 on Jan. 16.
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The Razorbacks remained mathematically alive to win their first SEC regular-season title since 1994 — when Arkansas won the national championship.
Arkansas has its longest SEC winning streak since closing 1994 with 11 in a row.
“We knew what we had to do,” said Razorbacks forward Jaylin Williams, who had 13 points and 8 rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench. “We knew we had to come in here with some energy, couldn’t get down early because they’re such a streaky team.
“They can get hot and make a run, and we just didn’t want to give them that. We had to show them we’re a different ball team than we were in the [first meeting].” The Tide got on a 7-0 run to start the second half and take a 45-39 lead, prompting Coach Eric Musselman to call a timeout with 18:08 to play.
“I think the biggest message was, ‘Hey look, they made a run,’ ” Musselman said of what he told his players. “ ‘We knew they were going to make a run. Don’t feel sorry for ourselves.’ ” Musselman also used the timeout to substitute in Williams, who scored 10 points during a 17-2 run by the Razorbacks as they moved ahead for good at 56-47.
“I’ve been saying this from the beginning, I just want to do whatever the team needs,” Williams said. “At the moment we were in the game, we were kind of struggling on the offensive end, and Coach Muss believed in me and put the ball in my hands to make the right choice.” Arkansas led by as many as 16 points, 70-54, on a three-pointer by junior guard JD Notae with 5:22 left.
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“We stunk last game,” Musselman said of the earlier loss at Alabama. “But you’ve got to bounce back, and I thought we bounced back. If you play the sixth-ranked team in the country and you beat them, it’s a heck of a win for the program, I can tell you that.” Senior guard Jalen Tate and Notae each scored 12 points for the Razorbacks. Senior forward Justin Smith had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Senior forward Jordan Bruner led Alabama with 14 points. Sophomore guard Jahvon Quinerly scored 13 points, and senior guard John Petty had 12.
The competitiveness of the game was evident by Petty and Tate both picking up their second technical fouls with 1:01 left, resulting in automatic ejections.
“I just want to put that on record that at the end of the game, [Tate] was talking to [Notae] when he was ejected,” Moody said in his post-game interview. “He didn’t say anything to the other team, didn’t say anything to the refs.
“I mean, it wasn’t any cuss words or something. I’m just going to leave it there, make that known. He was talking to JD when he was thrown out the game.” Arkansas made attacking the basket a priority and hit 27 of 43 free throws, including 16 of 19 by Moody. Alabama hit 11 of 33 three-pointers to 4 of 14 by Arkansas, but the Tide were just 3 of 8 on free throws.
“We have got to learn to defend without fouling,” Alabama Coach Nate Oats said. “We had a season-high in fouls [32]. You can’t put them at the line 43 times and expect to win the game.” Alabama was the highest-ranked team Arkansas has beaten since the Razorbacks’ 74-71 victory over No. 5 Texas A&M on Jan. 27, 2016, in Walton Arena.
Wednesday night’s game marked the first matchup of top 25 teams in Walton Arena in 23 years, since No. 16 Arkansas beat No. 13 South Carolina 96-88 on Feb. 18, 1998.
Arkansas improved to 14-1 at home this season. The Razorbacks’ lone loss in Walton Arena was to Missouri, 81-68, on Jan. 2 when the Tigers were ranked No. 12.
“That’s just a testament to the fact of how much better we’ve gotten throughout the season,” Moody said of the difference Wednesday night and the first game against Alabama. “We’re peaking at the right time.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of work, looked at all the things that we did wrong, and we’re just taking these games one by one and trying to make it to the next one.” Alabama will get another shot to win the SEC championship when it plays at Mississippi State on Saturday.
“It was a great chance to win the conference on the road against the second-place team in the league,” Oats said. “We didn’t take advantage of it.” The Razorbacks dumped water on Musselman in the postgame locker room celebration.
“I got a lot of water on me. I don’t know what else,” Musselman said. “I didn’t look.
“I like that polo. I hope it’s not ruined. … So I’m praying there was no Gatorade on that doggone thing.”
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 18-5, 10-4; Alabama 18-6, 13-2 STARS Arkansas guard Moses Moody (24 points, 16 of 19 free-throw shooting) and forward Justin Smith (11 points, 12 rebounds) KEY STAT Arkansas outscored the Crimson Tide 27-3 from the free-throw line.
