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The 15th-ranked Arkansas basketball team took another close shave from one of the SEC’s last-place teams Tuesday night.
But like three days earlier against LSU, the Razorbacks closed strong and won 83-79 at Oklahoma. It was the third consecutive win for Arkansas (16-5, 6-2 SEC).
Freshman guard Darius Acuff made a layup and a free throw with 21.2 seconds remaining to put the Razorbacks ahead 81-79. Acuff also made 1 of 2 free throws when he drew contact while driving to the rim with 1:01 to play.
A 3-point play gave him a team-high 21 points to go with 9 assists and 3 rebounds in 36 minutes. He did not commit a turnover.
As happy as he was with the shot that gave his team the lead, it seemed Arkansas coach John Calipari was even more pleased with Acuff’s 6 for 7 night at the line after he went 1 for 4 in the final minute against LSU.
“Who made the free throws?” Calipari said on the Razorback Sports Network postgame show. “Maybe you put it in his hands…and you let him do the finish.”
Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile blocked Oklahoma guard Xzayvier Brown near the rim with 15 seconds left. Meleek Thomas rebounded and made both free throws to give the Razorbacks an 83-79 lead.
Oklahoma guard Nijel Pack missed a 3-pointer in the closing seconds for the Sooners (11-10, 1-7), who lost their seventh in a row.
Pack scored a game-high 22 points and his deep 3-pointer from the top of the key gave Oklahoma a 79-77 lead with 1:14 to play.
The Sooners led by as many as 13 points during a frenetic first half. Calipari took a timeout with 7:24 left in the half with the Sooners ahead 38-25.
“You’re playing a team that’s 1-6 and they come out and play that way, and they have you down 13,” Calipari said. “I’m having to call timeouts in the first half just to keep the game close.”
Arkansas answered with a 7-0 run to the cut the lead to 38-32, with all points scored by the freshmen Thomas and Acuff, who combined for 37.
Pack’s back-to-back 3s put Oklahoma ahead 44-32 with 4:25 before halftime, but the Razorbacks answered again with a 12-2 run.
Nick Pringle’s layup with 31 seconds left in the half cut the Sooners’ lead to 46-44. Brown’s jumper at the buzzer gave Oklahoma a 48-44 halftime lead.
“We didn’t get off to a slow start,” Acuff told the ESPN broadcast after the game. “It was kind of back and forth, but at least we stayed in the game. We were playing hard and not just giving up easy baskets like we usually do. I felt like that was the key factor, for sure. We didn’t start off so slow; we started off together.”
The teams traded punches early in the second half. Acuff’s lob to Brazile put the Razorbacks ahead 61-58, but Oklahoma answered with a corner 3-pointer by Jadon Jones to tie the game 61-61 at the second media timeout.
Calipari took a timeout with 6:57 to play after Pack’s fifth 3-pointer gave Oklahoma a 68-65 lead.
For a while it appeared Arkansas’ inability to hit 3s and inability to slow the Sooners from the arc would be the difference. The Razorbacks shot 2 for 17 from 3-point range and Oklahoma was 10 for 27.
But there was a similar discrepancy inside, where Arkansas outscored the hosts 56-30 in the paint. The Sooners too often did not have an answer for the Razorbacks at the rim.
“When you shoot 2 for 17 from the 3 and you figure out a way to win, it means we’re not bad,” Calipari said. “We’ve got a pretty good team.”
Following a questionable Flagrant 1 foul on Karter Knox and a pair of Derrion Reid free throws that gave Oklahoma a 72-71 lead, Arkansas had with dunks on consecutive possessions to go ahead 75-72 with 3:47 left. The highlight was an alley-oop from Acuff to Billy Richmond that caused Oklahoma coach Porter Moser to take a timeout.
“The problem all night was we couldn’t guard our yard,” Moser said.
The Razorbacks were 33 for 46 shooting from inside the arc, including 20 for 24 at the rim.
“They’re elite going downhill,” Moser said. “The inability for us to guard the dribble — they had a super high percentage at the rim.”
Thomas scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half, and Malique Ewin (12) and Knox (11) also scored in double figures.
“I thought Meleek Thomas played out of his mind,” Calipari said.
Tae Davis (14), Brown (13) and Reid (12) scored in double figures for the Sooners, and Mohamed Wague had 9 points and 12 rebounds.
Series Note
Arkansas improved to 18-15 in its series against Oklahoma and to 2-3 since the series was played on an annual basis beginning in 2021-22.
The Sooners went 2-1 against the Razorbacks as part of the nonconference Crimson & Cardinal Classic at BOK Center in Tulsa. Oklahoma won 65-62 at Bud Walton Arena last season in the first game between the teams as conference opponents.
Arkansas won for the second time at Lloyd Noble Center, and for the first time since Dec. 10, 1977. In the Razorbacks’ previous five trips to Norman, the Sooners won by an average of 16.6 points.
Tuesday marked Arkansas’ first game at Oklahoma since December 2011.
Up Next
The Razorbacks are scheduled to host Kentucky on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.
The Wildcats were 14-6 overall and 5-2 in SEC play entering their game at No. 18 Vanderbilt on Tuesday.
Box Score
Arkansas 83-Oklahoma 79.PDF
