View from 315A

A day after winning on a last possession shot, Tennessee was eliminated from the SEC tournament in like fashion. Arkansas’ Steven Hill hit a turnaround jumper with 5.3 seconds remaining to lift the Razorbacks to a 92-91 victory. One Arkansas newspaper described it as a "Hill of a Shot." Well played.

Tennessee’s loss was not as surprising as the culprit of the game-winner. The seven-foot Hill scored his only points of the day on that bucket. He physically resembles a young Bill Walton but the comparison ends there. He admitted as such in the post-game press conference, noting, "I obviously did not expect to take that shot...Or any other shot that late in the game. They gave it to me and time was running out, so I kind of threw it up there and put it in."

Yes, the best team in Tennessee’s school history was eliminated from the conference tournament by a shot that a scoreless player "kind of threw...up there."

The game was tightly contested. Arkansas never led by more than three points and there were seventeen lead changes, five in the last three minutes of play. It was a great game. It's a shame so few fans got to see it live.

One of Tennessee’s biggest problems came on the glass. Arkansas hauled in 12 more rebounds than Tennessee (34-22) and posted 13 offensive boards. Bruce Pearl lamented, "You can't win many championships getting beat on the boards like we did."

Tyler Smith played his best game of the season, scoring a season-high 24 and getting 6 rebounds. He hit on 10 of 13 shot attempts, including all three of his three-point attempts. He also made the play of the game, driving and dunking directly over Arkansas’ Hill. (Note the Arkansas cheerleader’s reaction over Tyler’s left shoulder.) After hitting his first three shots, he was promptly pulled from the game. He also failed to get a shot in crunch time.

JaJuan Smith also did not get many looks. He scored 18 points on only eight field goal attempts. He even stared down Arkansas coach John Pelfrey after one three-point basket. He matched his career high of 32 the last time the two teams met.

Congratulations to the Razorbacks and their fans.

In retrospect, I am not sad that the tornado forced me to miss this game...

Some random game thoughts:

• Georgia Tech (whose home court the game was played on), has the single largest center court logo I have ever seen.
  
• Arkansas is now 20-0 when leading at the half.
  
• The SEC Tournament has been highly competitive. The average margin of victory by round is as follows: One: 6.75 PPG, Two: 4.5 PPG, Three: 2.4 PPG. I am picking a one-point final game.
  
• Has Tyler Smith been stopped in a one-on-one situation all season?
  
• Tennessee senior point guard Jordan Howell has not scored in the past three games. In Tennessee’s last eight contests, he is 1 of 19 from 3-pont range (5.2%) and in their last 12 he has shot just 4 of 38 overall (10.5%). Sadly, hitting the open jumper is his strength as he is slower than most people he guards. Of late, his insertion into games has triggered a run by the opposing team like clockwork
  
• Our friend D’s cousin (Gary Ervin) played solid at the point guard slot for Arkansas, scoring 9 points and dishing 7 assists.
  
• Even I could read Tennessee freshman Brian Williams’ lips as he fouled out - "f@#’n b@#$%^&!" In some ways, he was right. The game was evenly botched, but Tennessee should fare better in the NCAAs without the SEC’s officiating crew. At least I am hoping...