Arkansas’ Attempted Upset Falls Short vs. No. 1 Auburn

The Arkansas Razorbacks’ (15-11, 4-9) attempt at a massive upset came up short on Wednesday night, falling to No. 1 Auburn (24-2, 12-1) 67-60 inside of Neville Arena in Auburn, Ala.

The Hogs had another chance to pursue a lengthy upset after missing out on an opportunity in their recent game at No. 8 Texas A&M, where they were defeated 69-61.

On Wednesday night, Arkansas showed flashes of promising basketball, heading into the break down by just five points, while knotting things up at 37 with less than 15 minutes to go.

As a whole, Arkansas ripped a 45.5% field goal percentage, more efficient than Auburn’s 40.3%, however, the Hogs faltered from beyond the three-point arch, only shooting 3-of-19 (15.8%).

Four of the Hogs’ five starters reached double-digit points as Thiero scored a team-high 16, followed by 14 from Johnell Davis along with 14 and 11 from DJ Wagner and Karter Knox.

Thiero also put four rebounds and one steal along with his 16 points, continuing to serve as one of the main go-to guys for this year’s Arkansas squad.

While analyzing the statsheet, it’s easy to see that Zvonimir Ivisic’s performance was frowned upon, as the 7-foot-2 sophomore put up zero points, going 0-of-10 from the field and 0-of-9 from deep, the worst of his college career.

While his offensive game struggled heavily, Ivisic had eight boards (seven defensive), two steals and three blocks on the back end, helping somewhat contain Auburn’s Johni Broome, a current front runner for the National Player of the Year award.

Broome scored a team-high 16 points but was accompanied by Chad Baker-Mazara and Chaney Johnson, who both came off the bench and contributed heavily.

Baker-Mazara reached 15 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field while Johnson scored 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, also tallying six rebounds and two steals.

Those two have been extremely solid in contributing to Auburn’s storied success thus far.

Arkansas now looks ahead to Saturday, Feb. 22 when it hosts the No. 15 Missouri Tigers (20-6, 9-4), a momentum filled team coming off of a massive 110-98 victory over the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide on Wednesday night.

The Razorbacks will need to find solutions for Mark Mitchell, Mizzou’s 6-foot-9 guard who is currently averaging a team-high 13.6 points per game.

Tipoff for that SEC battle is set for 7 p.m. CT inside of Bud Walton Arena.