Hogs' run too late to make difference

SCOTT CAIN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Through the years, Arkansas teams have been able to count on a scoring burst at some point in most games.
By the time the barrage finally came Friday night, the Razorbacks were about two possessions too far behind for it to matter.
Struggling offensively all night, the 11th-seeded Hogs scored 12 points in the final 1:19 but lost 75-71 to sixth-seeded Miami at the Gaylord Entertainment Center.
Arkansas shot 40.7 percent, its lowest percentage in six games since shooting 40.3 in the March 1 loss to Tennessee.
"I think every game we have a spurt, but tonight we just didn't get it," freshman guard Joe Johnson said "If we had a little more time on the clock, I think we would have got it."
Miami played man-to-man defense that looked like a zone at times. When Arkansas players would try to penetrate, the Hurricanes would sag into the lane and cut off the dribble.
With the lane sealed off, Arkansas needed to make perimeter shots. But the Hogs went cold from the start, shooting 25.9 percent (7 of 27) in the first half in falling behind 25-9.
Johnson, who was averaging a team-best 16.1 points a game, scored 13, but he went 4 for 16 from the field. The congestion in the lane limited half of Johnson's game.
On the other end, Miami's hot shooting, 52 percent in the first half (13 of 25), wore on the Hogs.
"We usually spark our offense off our defense," freshman forward Carl Baker said. "We were playing hard but they kept making shots, and the more they made shots the more our confidence went down."
Confidence apparently was part of the problem before the game started. Several players said the team took Miami, which tied for the Big East championship, too lightly.
"We didn't give them the respect they deserved," Baker said. "We were a little too confident because we won the SEC Tournament. We pretty much were looking over them and thinking we were going to Texas [for the Sweet 16]."
To reach the regional in Austin, Texas, Arkansas would have needed to beat Miami and then beat third-seeded Ohio State on Sunday.
"We were focused, but I don't think we took them as strong as we should have," Johnson said. "Winning the SEC Tournament might have given us more confidence than it should have."
Inflated confidence or not, the game came down to the Razorbacks laying a major egg on offense in the first half that created a hole just big enough that they could not escape.
"When we needed big bucket, it just didn't seem like we could get one from anyone," sophomore Teddy Gipson said.

This article was published on Saturday, March 18, 2000

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