There was an uncomfortable aura of apathy permeating throughout a half-full Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday as No. 8 Tennessee handed Arkansas a 92-63 Valentine’s Day beatdown.
A date with a top-10 opponent in Fayetteville is typically a must-attend event, and even when scheduled on a holiday, there is nothing more romantic in Northwest Arkansas than watching the Hogs with nearly 20,000 like-minded friends.
Crazy how quickly things can change, isn’t it?
A sparse and mostly lethargic crowd was essentially a mirror image of the product on the floor this season, which has been missing the ingredients of ultra-competitiveness, toughness and the ability to overwhelm opponents on Nolan Richardson Court.
The Razorbacks (12-12, 3-8 SEC) have now lost five league games by more than 20 points, a feat of misfortune the program has never achieved since entering the league in the 1991-92 season.
Arkansas currently ranks No. 128 at KenPom, which is challenging its lowest finish in the metric at No. 134 during the 9-19 debacle in 2002-03. The Hogs are No. 133 in the NET rankings with a 3-11 record against the first two quadrants.
Rough stuff, right? Well, buckle up because there is a very realistic chance things could get worse before they get better.
Arkansas is now staring down a two-game road swing to Mississippi State and Texas A&M, a pair of opposing venues Musselman is 0-5 in since taking over at the helm.
The Razorbacks have not won in Starkville since 2015 and have not walked out of College Station victorious since 2019.
Add in some scheduling misfortune that Musselman pointed out after Wednesday’s loss to Tennessee, and things become even more complicated with a combination of quick turnarounds, early tips and well-rest competition.
“The schedule hasn’t done us any favors,” Musselman said. “We’re the last SEC game on a Wednesday night. Mississippi State has off, and we go there. It’s the second time it’s happened to us in the last couple weeks.”
Arkansas will go from the late Wednesday tip to an early Saturday start in Starkville to another early tip for a Tuesday tilt with the Aggies.
“Unless you play the game or coach the game, an extra four hours does matter when you have a short turnaround. I wish we would have played Tuesday night, but you get the schedule people give you. It’s not an excuse.
“We’ve got to go play the game. But look at the numbers on what has happened around the league. It’s a hard game, and we’ve got to get ready for a team that has been prepping for us for a week.
“It is what it is. We had it with Georgia, and now this will be our second time doing it.”
KenPom projects Arkansas to finish the regular season with just two wins in its final seven games, which would put it at 14-17 overall and 5-13 in SEC play.
Not only would it be a guaranteed date for Wednesday Sadness at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, it would be the first sub-.500 finish to a season since 2009-10 and the first time the Hogs won fewer than six league games since 08-09.
Arkansas and Mississippi State are set for a 1 p.m. Saturday tip in Starkville. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.