FAYETTEVILLE -- Playing at Minnesota last season doesn't bring back warm memories for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
"It was just a cold flight back home," Razorbacks senior guard Jaylen Barford said.
Things were pretty chilly in Williams Arena for the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, too, as the Golden Gophers won 85-71.
The Razorbacks committed 21 turnovers and shot 42.6 percent from the field (26 of 61), including 1 of 8 on three-pointers.
It was the first road game of the season for an Arkansas team with seven newcomers, including Barford and Daryl Macon, who were junior-college transfers.
"We were just starting to get to know each other on the floor," said Macon, a senior guard from Little Rock. "You couldn't blame us for losing our first road games. It's a little bit different this year."
Barford and Macon are among six seniors for the Razorbacks, who already have played four games away from home, including victories over Oklahoma and Connecticut at the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore.
Minnesota, ranked No. 14 in The Associated Press poll, plays Arkansas at 5:45 p.m. today in Walton Arena.
"Now we get to play them at home," Macon said. "Hopefully, it can be a different outcome this time."
The Gophers (8-2) are projected to have the same starting lineup as they did against the Razorbacks (6-2) last season, when Amir Coffey led Minnesota with 19 points, Nate Mason had 13, and Reggie Lynch and Jordan Murphy each scored 10.
"They really took us to the woodshed last year," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "We're going to have to play some really, really good basketball."
Minnesota is the third nonconference nationally ranked team to play at Arkansas in Anderson's seven seasons as coach, along with No. 6 Syracuse and No. 20 Michigan. Arkansas beat Michigan 66-64 during the 2011-2012 season; Syracuse beat the Razorbacks 91-82 the next season.
"It's another great opportunity," Macon said. "We just need to play our game, have fun, make the fans proud.
"I think it'll be a great environment."
Arkansas announced Friday that less than 1,000 tickets were unsold for the game.
"I think there's going to be a lot of people there," Barford said. "We're excited. I'm pretty sure the whole city is excited.
"It's going to be a great game and hopefully we'll win. We've just got to play defense and stay within ourselves."
The Razorbacks are averaging 87.2 points, including 92.8 in their four games at Walton Arena. The Gophers are averaging 87.3 points.
"It should be a fun game between two teams that like to score," Anderson said. "Bud Walton Arena should be alive."
Minnesota is 1-1 in road games, winning 86-74 at Providence on Nov. 13 and losing 78-68 at Nebraska in a Big Ten Conference game Tuesday night.
"We all know how difficult it is to win on the road, especially in a conference game," Anderson said. "So we'll get a team that'll be charged up to play, and we've got to be ready and charged up as well."
Barford and Macon are now team leaders -- and averaging 19.6 and 14.6 points a game -- after making the transition from junior college to the SEC last season.
"They've got a year of seasoning and understanding the ins and outs .... and how you've got to play," Anderson said. "The strength and size, the quickness and physicalness you've got to play with at this level.
"Hopefully, we'll see that in play [tonight] because Minnesota is a really physical basketball team."
The Razorbacks will look to get off to a better start against the Gophers after falling behind by 11 points in the first few minutes the previous two games in a 91-65 loss at Houston and 92-66 victory over Colorado State.
"I think we've been hesitant on our shots, or hesitant on what we want to do as a team out there on the floor," Macon said. "We're looking at Coach to see what's next most of the time.
"We've just got to go out there and play the game the way we know how to play it."
Sports on 12/09/2017