Vanderbilt extended its win streak in its series with Arkansas to three games Tuesday night, taking down the Razorbacks 85-82 in Bud Walton Arena.
The loss, arguably the worst of the Eric Musselman era, dropped Arkansas to 14-14 overall and 5-10 in SEC play. The Razorbacks have now lost six games on their home floor in 2023-24.
It is the most home-court defeats since 2018-19.
Here are a handful of numbers that tell the story of Arkansas’ latest embarrassing loss:
• 62 — Combined points for Vanderbilt’s Ezra Manjon, Tyrin Lawrence and Ven-Allen Lubin
On the Razorbacks’ pregame radio show Tuesday, Musselman clearly laid out the importance of slowing Manjon, Lawrence and Lubin, the Commodores’ top three scorers entering the night.
Arkansas did little to disrupt the trio, which scored 72.9% of the team’s points.
Manjon led the way with 22, then Lawrence followed with 21 and Lubin added a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double. They shot a combined 22 of 38 (57.9%) from the field, and Lubin was 9 of 10 inside the arc.
“It doesn’t happen much with the way that we prep,” Musselman said. “Tonight, it did. So, as I’ve said, I’m disappointed in our defense.”
The 22 points from Manjon are an SEC high. Lawrence matched his highest point total in league play, and Lubin contributed his second-most points in any game this season.
Paul Lewis, a 6-2 guard, also scored in double figures (11) for just the third time in 2023-24.
• 16 — Arkansas misses in its final 17 shots of the first half
In Khalif Battle’s opinion, this is where the game was lost.
After Jeremiah Davenport nailed a right-corner three-pointer with 12:46 left in the first half, the Razorbacks went ice cold and connected on just one more shot prior to halftime.
In that span, Arkansas went 0 of 8 from three-point range and 1 of 9 inside the arc.
“Yeah, 1 for 17 is tough. I think that’s the game right there,” Battle said. “That’s tough. That’s basketball. Basketball is a game of runs. We’ve just got to watch the film and get better from it.”
The Razorbacks opened the game 7 of 10 from the field.
• 11 — Vanderbilt field goals allowed by Ellis and Davenport
Based on my unofficial tally of shots defended for each Razorback, it seemed evident that the Commodores’ offensive game plan very much included going at Ellis and Davenport when they were on the floor.
Ellis allowed 7 scores, including a pair of threes, on a team-high 13 shots defended. Davenport defended 8 Vanderbilt shots and gave up 4 buckets.
By my count, no other Arkansas player defended more than six Commodores field goal attempts.
• 10 — Manjon points in an important 6:21 stretch
With 5:02 left in the first half, Ellis added a layup to give the Razorbacks a 27-23 lead. Then Manjon put together an impressive individual run that helped flip the game in Vanderbilt’s favor.
The guard scored 8 of the Commodores’ final 12 points before halftime and sent them into the break up 35-31. To open the second half, Manjon added a layup as part of a 6-0 run that ballooned the Vanderbilt lead to 10.
“He’s a really good player,” Musselman said. “He’s got good quickness. He’s got a great pull-up game. He understands who he is as a player and doesn’t force the issue. Really experienced.
“I thought he had a heck of a game.”
• 6 — Turnovers by Battle
The New Jersey native was again electric from a scoring standpoint Tuesday, pouring in 36 points just days after putting 42 on Missouri.
But turnovers were an issue for Battle, who went into the game with only 1 turnover in 134 minutes in February. The six miscues are his most in a game since November 2022 while at Temple.
Battle had six total turnovers in the team’s first 14 SEC games.
How come JG didn’t get any run not a sec , but has shown he can play on both ends of the floor! We needed some offensive pop from the paint and he gotten nothing.