With the loss, Arkansas dropped into a three-way tie for eighth place in the SEC with Texas A&M and Auburn. It capped a critical week for the Razorbacks, who also lost a game Thursday at Texas A&M.
“There was so much emotion,” Arkansas Coach Mike Neighbors said. “There was obviously a heightened sense before the game because we all read ESPN.com and look at Bracketology and all that. … It makes it a big important game. But it was going to be heightened. Our games with [Vanderbilt] are always heightened.”
The Commodores’ defense handcuffed the Razorbacks. Arkansas scored a season-low 53 points and shot 17 of 54 (31.5%), 7 of 30 (23.3%) from three-point range and 12 of 18 (66.7%) from the free-throw line.
“We ran out of gas,” Neighbors said. “We spent so much energy trying to come back and got it kind of going our way. They did start kind of matching up and it’s really hard to tell what they’re in because they changed defenses so much. We got a stagnant a little bit, and we obviously missed some key people down the stretch that are used to finishing games.”
Neither team led by more than four points in a low-scoring, back-and-forth first half that saw five lead changes. Arkansas snatched momentum entering halftime when Saylor Poffenbarger banked in a three-fourths court heave that drew the Razorbacks within 24-23.
It was the second consecutive year Arkansas has banked in a shot at the buzzer against the Commodores. Last season, Daniels banked in a deep three-pointer as time expired and after Vanderbilt banked in a game-tying three with 4.3 seconds left. Daniels’ shot gave Arkansas an 84-81 victory