If you turned this game off when Arkansas was down by 24 in the first half, let me fill you in: the Hogs almost came back.

Arkansas (24-7, 13-5) trailed 50-29 at halftime but used multiple 10-0 runs in the second half to get the game as close as two points late before falling to Tennessee (23-7, 14-4), 78-74.

Tennessee shot lights out throughout the game, hitting 12 of 18 from beyond the arc, but the Hogs battled back with a +2 turnover margin and 16 offensive rebounds. The Hogs pulled within 74-72 before JD Notae tried to be too aggressive on a fastbreak pass to Devo Davis and threw it out of bounds. The Hogs had one more shot, down 77-74, but Notae’s game-tying 3-pointer was no good, allowing the Vols to escape.

The Hogs had to play without key defender Au’Diese Toney, who was injured. They also had to survive the clear impact of Rick Barnes whining about the officiating following the first meeting, as the Hogs were victimized by several bad calls as Tennessee built its lead and then one more late as Chris Lykes fouled out because John Fulkerson jumped on him with 1:43 left and the Hogs down 73-70.

Notae finished with 20 points, while Lykes and Stanley Umude each had 15.

Instant Analysis

• Rebounding resurgence. After getting dominated on the offensive glass for several games in a row, the Hogs out-rebounded Tennessee 16-6 on the offensive glass. Kamani Johnson had five and Trey Wade had three for the Hogs.
• No quit. The Toney injury forced the Hogs to give minutes to KK Robinson and Jaxson Robinson in the first half, but the Razorbacks were right there in the end. Arkansas was whistled for 25 fouls, with Lykes fouling out and Jaylin Williams battling foul trouble all game long.
• This is the matchup. If the Hogs could pick their semifinal opponent between Auburn, Tennessee, and Kentucky, I think it’s pretty clear the Vols are the team Arkansas would like to play. I discussed some of the advantages of the matchup against Tennessee in the preview, so to lose by just 4 points on the road with everything else going against them, I’d be pretty confident in the Hogs to beat the Vols again with a healthy roster on a neutral floor.

Keep an eye out for our Box Score Breakdown, which will take a deeper dive into this game.