Spring Break
Hogs need win at Georgia to put fast start back on track
Nic Schluterman
Issue date: 1/18/08 Section: Sports
Georgia is not considered a natural rival of Arkansas basketball.
They are a team that appears only once per year on the Hogs' schedule, but they have been on the delivering end of several of the most cringe-inducing incidents of recent Razorback history.
Last season, former Bulldog Steve Newman nailed a shot from the pig's tail of the Bud Walton Arena floor as time expired to give Georgia a 67-64 win, snapping a 16-game home winning streak for the Hogs.
Dave Bliss, a senior on this year's Georgia roster, incited a near-brawl with Razorback center Steven Hill in Arkansas' last trip to Stegeman Coliseum two seasons ago.
And it was Georgia who provided the Hogs with the most lopsided defeat of the Nolan Richardson meltdown of 2002, 81-67 in Athens, Ga.
Saturday, the Razorbacks will hope to avoid another sour meeting with the Bulldogs.
John Pelphrey already faces a critical match in his fourth conference game as Arkansas boss.
His team had received an early-season gift from Southeastern Conference schedulers. None of the Hogs' first seven conference opponents has an RPI - the ranking used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee - higher than 80th in the nation. However, in a home loss to South Carolina on Wednesday, the Razorbacks squandered an opportunity to build a cushion in the win column before the schedule takes a turn for the worse.
When Arkansas' (13-4, 2-1 SEC, RPI: 46) tour of the SEC basement continues with a visit to Georgia (10-5, 1-1 SEC, RPI: 149), Pelphrey's squad will have another chance to put some distance between themselves and .500.
"We can hang our heads going into Georgia and lose or we can learn from [the South Carolina loss] and take it into the Georgia game with us," Arkansas senior Sonny Weems said.
The Bulldogs earned their first conference triumph of the season on Wednesday with a 61-54 home win over Alabama. Junior guard Billy Humphrey secured the game by hitting a three-pointer with 1:14 left to give Georgia a seven-point margin.
They are a team that appears only once per year on the Hogs' schedule, but they have been on the delivering end of several of the most cringe-inducing incidents of recent Razorback history.
Last season, former Bulldog Steve Newman nailed a shot from the pig's tail of the Bud Walton Arena floor as time expired to give Georgia a 67-64 win, snapping a 16-game home winning streak for the Hogs.
Dave Bliss, a senior on this year's Georgia roster, incited a near-brawl with Razorback center Steven Hill in Arkansas' last trip to Stegeman Coliseum two seasons ago.
And it was Georgia who provided the Hogs with the most lopsided defeat of the Nolan Richardson meltdown of 2002, 81-67 in Athens, Ga.
Saturday, the Razorbacks will hope to avoid another sour meeting with the Bulldogs.
John Pelphrey already faces a critical match in his fourth conference game as Arkansas boss.
His team had received an early-season gift from Southeastern Conference schedulers. None of the Hogs' first seven conference opponents has an RPI - the ranking used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee - higher than 80th in the nation. However, in a home loss to South Carolina on Wednesday, the Razorbacks squandered an opportunity to build a cushion in the win column before the schedule takes a turn for the worse.
When Arkansas' (13-4, 2-1 SEC, RPI: 46) tour of the SEC basement continues with a visit to Georgia (10-5, 1-1 SEC, RPI: 149), Pelphrey's squad will have another chance to put some distance between themselves and .500.
"We can hang our heads going into Georgia and lose or we can learn from [the South Carolina loss] and take it into the Georgia game with us," Arkansas senior Sonny Weems said.
The Bulldogs earned their first conference triumph of the season on Wednesday with a 61-54 home win over Alabama. Junior guard Billy Humphrey secured the game by hitting a three-pointer with 1:14 left to give Georgia a seven-point margin.
Be the first to comment on this story