Little Surprising About Hogs’ Massive Loss to South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. — There was nothing surprising about how bad Arkansas played in a 72-53 loss at South Carolina Saturday, although the failure to get into double digits roughly 18 minutes into the game might have been a little bit over the top.

It’s already well documented the Razorbacks are not creatures of daylight hours. The fact the game was starting at noon already guaranteed a loss.

Factor in Arkansas went to overtime Wednesday night against Texas with four starters pushing 40 minutes with only one day of classes/rest before making the longest trip of the SEC slate Friday, and the odds were much in the Gamecocks’ favor. Nevermind the intentionally short-handed Hogs were without forward Adou Theiro and Zvonomir Ivisic spent much of Wednesday night grimacing because of pain in his back.

Not to pile on, but South Carolina lost at home to No. 1 Auburn by three, No. 3 Florida by one, No. 24 Mississippi State by five, No. 12 Texas A&M by four, and Ole Miss by four before absolutely bombing Texas in their last game in Columbia before hosting Arkansas. Those are far better teams than the Hogs barely scrapping out wins.

Every tell possible was there that not only was Arkansas going to lose, but it would easily be by double digits. It should have been such an easy bet that booking sites should have considered taking it off the board.

Had it not been for people being lazy and simply looking at the Gamecocks’ 11-17 record rather than diving into it properly, that might very well have happened because it would have been too lopsided. After all, this was a game that eventually required a 13-0 run to cut the lead to 22 with three minutes left.

So, the damage, as foreseeable as it was, is officially done. The only thing left to determine is what it means in the overall picture.

Because the Gamecocks are No. 91 in the NET and likely to rise even further after today’s win, this is a high Quad 2 loss, keeping Arkansas from adding what is considered an officially a bad loss on its schedule. Had it been in Fayetteville, it would have been disastrous for the Hogs’ chances to get into the NCAA Tournament, but in this case, the damage is minimal.

The best news is, although Arkansas is playing a much better team in Vanderbilt Tuesday night, which sits a single spot behind the Razorbacks, the odds are much more in their favor than they were against South Carolina.

The Hogs will be home in time for a late dinner Saturday night and with the game at Vanderbilt not starting until 9 p.m., Calipari can have his team fly up Tuesday morning if he wants grab a long nap, make the shoot around and come out ready to go with a presumably healthier team than the one he drug out to the East Coast this weekend.

Plus, the later the game, the better the Hogs are in league play. Arkansas is 5-2 against the SEC in 8 p.m. games as opposed to 0-6 before 7 p.m. and 1-2 in the seven o’clock hour. That pattern indicates Arkansas should be almost unstoppable by the time 9 p.m. rolls around.

That will be a huge Quad 1 win that will go a long way in cementing Arkansas in the tournament so long as the Hogs don’t crash out too hard in an 11 a.m. game that likely won’t go well against Mississippi State simply because of time of day, and the first round of the SEC Tournament.

Either way, the season rests on that late game in Nashville. If the Commodores somehow pull it off, it will be hard to imagine Arkansas going anywhere other than the NIT.

However, although it’s a bad loss, pointing to the South Carolina game won’t be the culprit. Even Calipari knew that one wasn’t going to happen.

The plan had to be pulling out a big win elsewhere and the Hogs will have come up a game short in that case. That’s just how the clock works for this team.