LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’ basketball team appeared to be on the verge of reclaiming a spot among the nation’s elite programs after starting last season 12-1.
But Coach John Pelphrey sounded a cautionary tone in the aftermath of victories over No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 7 Texas at Walton Arena.
“It’s easy to get swept up when you’re playing well and you’re winning games like this,” Pelphrey said in his Texas postgame news conference. “It’s going to be interesting to see how a young basketball team handles success.
“It’s a long year ... Our greatest challenges lie ahead.”
But it’s doubtful anyone could have predicted how challenging SEC play would be for the Razorbacks as they went 2-15, including a season-ending loss to Florida in the conference tournament.
Finishing games was a major problem for Arkansas, which led in the second half of seven of its SEC losses.
It was the Razorbacks’ worst conference showing in 38 years, since going 1-13 in the Southwest Conference during the 1970-1971 season.
Arkansas also was rocked by a series of off-the-court problems and began this season with four scholarship players on suspension.
In announcing the suspensions before the season Pelphrey said he’s “not going to apologize for believing that we should do it a certain way, for being disciplined. There are consequences for your actions.
Know that.”
Pelphrey said he is committed to making all the decisions necessary to build a strong program for the long term.
Overall, the Razorbacks have had seven scholarship players miss a combined 34 games.
Arkansas has won five in a row to improve to 7-5, but that record includes three consecutive home losses to Morgan State, East Tennessee State and South Alabama, and attendance was down significantly.
In the calendar year 2009, the Razorbacks are 11-20 with one game remaining against Baylor on Wednesday night.
Sports, Pages 33 on 12/27/2009