Georgia falls on road to Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Georgia men’s basketball team was unable to beat Arkansas on the road Tuesday evening, losing 97-65 before 19,200 spectators and Bud Walton Arena.

Junior guard Kario Oquendo led the team with 20 points for Georgia (16-12, 6-9 SEC), while Jabri Abdur-Rahim notched 12 points of his own with a pair of 3-pointers. Arkansas (19-9, 8-7 SEC) held the Bulldogs to 36.5% shooting from the field and converted on 63.8% of its attempts.

“I liked the attitude and fight from a bunch of our guys today,” said head coach Mike White. “It’s a really tough week for us. I thought we played hard. We did a pretty good job in terms of attention to detail in the scouting report, the whole thing was trying to pack it in to give ourselves a chance. … I thought Arkansas played really, really well.”

After trading baskets in the opening minute, the Razorbacks went on a pair of 6-0 runs to take an eight-point lead at the 14-minute mark. Terry Roberts answered by attacking the paint and putting in a layup, but the Arkansas offense hit its stride and rattled off nine straight points to take a 23-8 lead.

Georgia could not make all its opportunities at the rim, going just 5-for-9 on layups through the under-four media timeout. The Bulldogs trailed 43-23 heading into the locker room at halftime.

Georgia was unable to stop the Arkansas offensive attack coming into the second half, as the Razorbacks used an 8-0 run to extend their lead coming out of the break. Despite a 3-pointer from Kario Oquendo, the Bulldogs still fell behind by 29 four and a half minutes into the second half.

Following a steal from Jaylin Ingram, Oquendo found himself all alone on the fast break and went up for the dunk to put the score at 72-48 in the Razorbacks’ favor with seven and a half minutes to go. With the game coming to a close, Jabri Abdur-Rahim and Oquendo helped to narrow the deficit thanks to a 3-pointer and layup, respectively. Arkansas would go on to finish the game with a 97-65 win.

Georgia will return to Stegeman Coliseum on Saturday to take on Missouri at 1 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcasted on the SEC Network. The Bulldogs hold a 5-2 record when playing against the Tigers at home.

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