14. Arkansas (8-2)
If you look at just November, it’s easy to be disappointed in what Arkansas produced, as they struggled at home in a few of their wins and lost both of their opportunities to Duke and Michigan State. However, the season doesn’t end in the opening month and the Razorbacks are using December to prove that they can be an SEC contender, evident with that big win over Louisville to start the month.
They added even more fuel to that fire with their performance on Saturday, getting an impressive 93-86 win in Dallas over a ranked Texas Tech squad. This was far from Arkansas’s best defensive effort of the early season, but they clawed back from an early deficit to stun the Red Raiders. Trevon Brazile was excellent with 24 points and 10 rebounds, Darius Acuff Jr. had 20 points and 8 assists, and Karter Knox added 20 points himself.
In the span of less than two weeks, the Razorbacks have looked really good in wins over two ranked teams and are definitely stabilizing at this point. They’re getting great production out of those star freshmen in Acuff and Meleek Thomas while Brazile is clearly no slouch either. As wonderful as this month has started, another major challenge is on the horizon as the Razorbacks face Houston next weekend in their last real nonconference test.