Hogs host Vols in return home
Men's Basketball
Bart Pohlman
Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Sports
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With the Razorbacks' season on the line, former Hog Steven Hill hit a turnaround jumper with 5.3 seconds left to give Arkansas a thrilling 92-91 victory over the Volunteers.
That win earned the Hogs a spot in the SEC Tournament championship game for the second straight season. Arkansas lost to Georgia in that game, but still advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
While the Razorbacks (13-6, 1-5 SEC) and Volunteers won't be playing for a spot in a championship game tonight, and Hill is no longer around to provide end-game heroics, this matchup is still important, Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey said.
"This is a big week around the league, and we have a great opponent coming in," Pelphrey said. "Tennessee has great coaching and has had outstanding success the last few years."
Pelphrey said the Volunteers (13-7, 4-2 SEC) pose plenty of problems for Arkansas.
"They have a great frontcourt with [Wayne] Chism and [Tyler] Smith," Pelphrey said. "They have an extremely athletic backcourt. Theirs don't look like ours. They are long, athletic and talented. That's not new for us. Scotty Hopson is a tremendous talent. He's going to be a superstar in our league. It will be important to defend and rebound."
Unlike the Vols, who enter the game fresh off a resounding 79-63 win over Florida, the Razorbacks continue to struggle in SEC play.
Arkansas lost 79-69 to LSU on Saturday, and Pelphrey said an attitude problem played a role in the loss.
"If we had not played better in the second half, I probably would not have been as angry," Pelphrey said. "There's an attitude there than can be fixed. We didn't grow any taller or get any faster when we decided to compete. It needs to be that way all the time."
One bright spot, said Pelphrey, has been the play of freshman point guard Courtney Fortson.
"[Fortson] has 19 games of experience and he's using it," Pelphrey said. "I thought he was outstanding against Alabama and LSU. Outstanding means knowing what we want from the bench and having it go through him. We had good ball movement."
On the season, Fortson leads all SEC freshmen in scoring (14.3) and assists (6.53). In the overall SEC rankings, he is also first in assists.
"Courtney is maturing and becoming a better point guard," Pelphrey said.
With only 10 games left in the regular season, Pelphrey said he thinks the Hogs still have a chance to perform well in SEC play, despite the slow start.
"In the big picture, that's a lot of time," Pelphrey said. "I never attempt to predict the future. I believe with all my heart, if we have a great attitude and play hard in our style, we'll have a chance to overachieve."
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