FAYETTEVILLE -- It was appropriate Nolan Richardson was honored Tuesday night when Arkansas reached several heights last seen 20 years ago during his coaching tenure with the Razorbacks.
The No. 18 Razorbacks (23-5, 12-4 SEC) beat Texas A&M 81-75 for their seventh consecutive victory and improved to 10-1 in their past 11 games.
Up next
NO. 18 ARKANSAS VS. NO. 1 KENTUCKY
WHEN 3 p.m. Central Saturday
WHERE Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.
RECORDS Arkansas 23-5, 12-3 SEC; Kentucky 28-0, 15-0
SERIES Kentucky leads 25-11
RADIO Razorback Sports Network
TV CBS
It is Arkansas' longest winning streak against SEC teams since the 1994-95 Razorbacks -- who lost the NCAA Tournament title game to UCLA after winning the national championship the year before -- won 10 in a row, including two SEC Tournament games.
The Razorbacks have their most regular-season victories since the 1994-95 team was 25-5 going into the SEC Tournament. The 12 SEC victories are the most for Arkansas since the 1994-95 team finished 12-4 before conference games were expanded from 16 to 18.
When the Razorbacks won 65-61 at Mississippi State last Saturday to improve to 5-2 in SEC road games, they were assured of finishing with Arkansas' first winning SEC road record since -- you guessed it -- the 1994-95 team went 5-3.
Arkansas' return to national prominence has come under Coach Mike Anderson, who was Richardson's point guard at Tulsa and his assistant coach at Arkansas for 17 seasons.
The Razorbacks' victory total has improved each of Anderson's four seasons -- from 18 to 19, to 22 to 23 and counting -- as he's gradually rebuilt the program to the point where Arkansas is on the verge of its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008.
Richardson, who won an Arkansas-record 389 games, said having a banner unveiled in Walton Arena was especially gratifying with Anderson leading the Razorbacks after being away from the program for nine seasons as coach at Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri.
Anderson led the Blazers and Tigers to a combined six NCAA Tournament appearances in his last three seasons with each team.
"It's amazing to me," Richardson said of how Anderson has taken charge of three programs. "I have such an admiration for Mike and how he's worked, and I'm so proud of him because it didn't only happen here. I saw him do it at UAB, and I saw him move from UAB and do it at Missouri, and I saw him come to Arkansas when I knew the program was in disarray."
While Anderson has said since being hired at Arkansas his goal is to win the national championship, during the season he never talks specifically about his team's NCAA Tournament chances.
ESPN, CBSSports.com and Scout.com in their latest bracket projections all have Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 5 seed.
Anderson doesn't want to hear about any of that. His said his focus is solely on Saturday's game at No. 1 Kentucky.
"You don't get ahead of yourself," Anderson said. "You guys can write about it and talk about it, but if we continue to play the way we're playing and do the things we're doing, we'll be where we're supposed to be."
Arkansas' players have said repeatedly this month as the team's winning streak continues to grow that Anderson never talks to them about the NCAA Tournament.
"Yes, it's every kid's dream to play in the NCAA Tournament," sophomore guard Manny Watkins said prior to the start of the Razorbacks' winning streak. "I've been watching it my whole life, the upsets and the craziness. Everybody wants to be in it, but we've just got to take it one game at a time, and at the end of the regular season if we take care of business and our body of work is good enough, we should be there."
Senior guard Ky Madden said last week players don't even talk about the NCAA Tournament among themselves.
"That's the kind of attitude that can get you beat, when you're looking ahead and then you overlook people," Madden said. "We're just focusing on the next task at hand. That's what we've been doing all season."
Anderson said the Razorbacks are continuing to play better but have room for improvement.
"We try to get better every game we play, every practice," Anderson said after the victory at Mississippi State. "That's the simple formula to me. Where does that stop? Who knows?
"Our players work extremely hard. Tney're trusting one another and playing to win. As that continues, we may see some more things take place.
"I just think it's going to be a special year for these guys. They're not done yet."
Richardson said it takes time to bring a program back from the depths Arkansas had reached. The Razorbacks were 16-32 in SEC games the three seasons before Anderson's return and are 38-30 under him, including 20-6 going back to February of 2014.
"Mike is ahead of schedule as far as I'm concerned, and he can continue to be ahead of schedule," Richardson said. "That's just who Mike is."
Sports on 02/26/2015