Reactions to Arkansas completely wetting the bed at last-place South Carolina

At one point, Arkansas Basketball was effectively left for dead when it came to their at-large hopes. They lost their first five SEC games, including at LSU. Yet they’ve rebounded well in the past month, getting wins over Kentucky, Missouri, and twice over Texas to get back squarely on the bubble, with the last two wins having them in the field of 68 in some projections.

The Razorbacks had arguably their easiest game on the schedule, playing at South Carolina. The Gamecocks went from worst in the SEC to the NCAA Tournament a year ago, but they’re back to the bottom, coming into Saturday at 1-14 in SEC play and no hope for the postseason.

But it looks like the Gamecocks wanted to drag Arkansas down with them. It was as miserable a start as possible for the road team, with Arkansas going down 16-2 to start the game. The offense took way too long to get into gear, down 32-18 at halftime.

The reactions online were rough to Arkansas play, which may have brought them down a couple of notches in Bracketology. The second half didn’t go any better for the Razorbacks, as South Carolina was up 50-20 with 12 minutes to go. From there, they coasted to a 72-53 victory to bring Arkansas to 17-12 and 6-10 in SEC play. 

Historically, teams haven’t made the NCAA Tournament if they go 6-12 in league play in the regular season. Even with how historically great the SEC has been this season and the non-con wins the Razorbacks have, such as Michigan, this kind of loss could have them on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday.

Arkansas finishes the regular season on the road at Vanderbilt and at home against Mississippi State. After this letdown performance against the worst team in the conference, they need to win at least one of them now to feel good about their NCAA Tournament chances.