Hogs to face Vandy on first day of SEC Tournament

Arkansas’ first game at next week’s SEC Tournament is set.

The Razorbacks, the No. 12 seed, will play 13-seed Vanderbilt at 6 p.m. Central on Wednesday in Nashville, Tenn. The game will be televised by SEC Network.

The winner will move on to face 5-seed South Carolina in the second round Thursday afternoon.

The Commodores finished the regular season with a 9-22 overall mark and 4-14 record in league games. Vanderbilt beat Arkansas 85-82 on Feb. 27 in Bud Walton Arena behind 22 points from guard Ezra Manjon and 21 points from guard Tyrin Lawrence.

Forward Ven-Allen Lubin also added 19 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. The Razorbacks were led by 36 points from Khalif Battle.

“They’re a team that competes. They’re well-coached,” Eric Musselman said Saturday. “They understand their roles. They have three stars. We’ve got to do a much better job on their center than we did last game.

“We’ve got to do a much better job on their two guards, Manjon and Lawrence, and then you’ve got to take away the three with the other guys.

“We’ve got to play much better than we did last game against Vanderbilt.”

It’s the second time Arkansas will face the Commodores on the first day of the SEC Tournament under Musselman. The Razorbacks beat Vanderbilt 86-73 in March 2020 in what turned out to be the final game of the season.

The remainder of the postseason was canceled because of the covid-19 pandemic.

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