NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Arkansas or Vanderbilt might have won Thursday night’s SEC Tournament match-up by a comfortable margin if either had shot free throws well.
The Commodores hit just 17 of 30 attempts but held on to beat the Razorbacks 75-72 after Arkansas made 20 of 34.
It was an especially tough game at the free-throw line for Razorbacks forward Marshawn Powell, who finished 7 of 15.
“Terrible for me, terrible,” Powell said, shaking his head after the game. “I think I missed like 10, I don’t even know. It felt like 20.”
Powell came into the game having hit 66.4 percent (79 of 119) of his free throws. He missed his first three free throws, then hit 7 of 8 before going 1 of 4.
“I missed the first couple and I thought I found it,” Powell said. “I hit a couple and I thought I found how to shoot that ball. I’m used to shooting the Nike balls that we shoot with, and coming in here and playing with those Wilson balls is totally different, but it’s not an excuse.
“The player that people say I am, the player that I believe I am, I’ve got to make those.”
Arkansas sophomore guard BJ Young was 4 of 8 on free throws, including two misses with 13.1 seconds left when the Razorbacks trailed 73-68.
“It was a very crucial thing in the game,” Young said. “We got up there, had chances and didn’t capitalize sometimes.”
Madden shines
Sophomore guard Ky Madden gave the Razorbacks a huge boost from the bench, finishing with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots in 24 minutes without a turnover.
“I thought Ky played one of his better games for us,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said.
“Ky came in and did the things that Coach wanted him to do,” Razorbacks forward Marshawn Powell said. “He played hard and got rebounds, did the dirty work.” Ouch
Arkansas junior forward Coty Clarke stole the ball from Kevin Bright with 3:20 left and was going in for a likely dunk or layup when Bright poked him in the right eye trying to get the ball back.
“My eye just went black, that’s why I fell to the ground,” Clarke said. “It doesn’t hurt now. It feels likeit’s closed, but that’s OK.”
Clarke stayed in the game and hit 1 of 2 free throws to pull the Razorbacks within 67-61.
“I thought I was capable of making them,” Clarke said. “I just went long on the first one.”
Legendary Jerry
Jerry Carlton, who averaged 14.7 points over his 71-game career at Arkansas from 1960-1962, was honored during halftime of the Arkansas-Vanderbilt game as the Razorbacks’ SEC Legend.
Wimp Sanderson, the former Alabama and UALR coach, will be honored as Alabama’s legend tonight when the Crimson Tide plays Tennessee.
1-2 vs. Vandy
Vanderbilt won 2 of 3 games against Arkansas this season. The teams split during the regular season, with the home team winning, before Thursday night’s third matchuup.
The Razorbacks lead the series 18-11, including 3-1 in SEC Tournament games.
Ocean of Blue
Missouri and Vanderbilt - which both have black and gold as their school colors - played in each of Thursday night’s games, but as Commodores Coach Kevin Stallings accurately predicted Wednesday, thosewearing Kentucky blue made up the biggest contingent of fans.
Kentucky fans annually dominant the SEC Tournament - wherever it’s played - the way Arkansas fans used to take over Reunion Arena in Dallas at the Southwest Conference Tournament.
Stallings recalled that when Vanderbilt beat Kentucky in the SEC Tournament final last year in New Orleans, the Wildcats had about 19,000 fans compared to 500 for the Commodores.
“A lot of times you feel it’s just Rupp Arena transferred to a different city,” Stallings said. “You have to admire the way their fans travel and support their team.
“The other team can still win, which fortunately we were able to prove last year.” Travel plans
The 2014 SEC Tournament will be held in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome. The tournament returns to Nashville in 2015 and 2016 and will be held there in 2019.
Host sites for 2017 and 2018 haven’t been announced.
With the addition of Missouri, one of the cities the SEC is considering for the 2017 and 2018 tournaments is St. Louis, according to a report in the Birmingham News. SEC officials visited St. Louis last week when the Missouri Valley Tournament was held at Scottrade Center.
Sports, Pages 20 on 03/15/2013