No. 20 Arkansas growing March-minded, continues mission at Missouri
After building for these moments all season, Trevon Brazile showed what he's capable of in March. The senior standout for 20th-ranked Arkansas went off for a career-high 28 points in the Razorbacks' impressive 105-85 win over Texas on Wednesday night.
"It's a good feeling to kind of go out with a bang," Brazile said after the win. "Even though the season's not over and we've got a lot of season left and a lot of goals we want to accomplish. But it felt good to have a good last game."
Brazile and Arkansas close out the regular season on Saturday at Missouri where they'll aim to clinch the second seed for the SEC tournament next week.
A win over the Tigers (20-10, 10-7) and an Alabama loss to Auburn would give the Razorbacks (22-8, 12-5) the No. 2 seed.
Arkansas comes in feeling good, especially after opening the game against the Longhorns on a 19-4 run. The Razorbacks want to continue to perform like a championship contender.
"This is why we did what we did all year, is to get to March, to be able to play like we're one of those teams," head coach John Calipari said. "Tonight was important."
Missouri aims to right the ship after falling 80-64 to Oklahoma on Tuesday night despite 17 points from Mark Mitchell, who averages a team-leading 17.4 points per game and was this past week's SEC Player of the Week.
Missouri is in a position where it cost itself a chance at a top four seed in the tournament by losing to the Sooners and could be as low as the 10 seed depending on how things go against Arkansas.
As tough of a loss as it was, especially this time of the year, Missouri head coach Dennis Gates is confident his team will bounce back.
"Our guys will regroup. We'll get back to the debrief and see what we need to get better at," Gates said on the Tiger Radio Network after the game. "But, ultimately, that was a game that we shot ourselves in the foot. Gave up 16 turnovers to their 25 points off turnovers."
That issue haunted the Tigers in their last meeting with Arkansas. Missouri lost 94-86 to the Razorbacks on Feb. 21 and were outscored 18-6 in the category of points off turnovers. Mitchell scored 26 points in the loss.
Missouri is averaging 79.7 points per game and allowing 74.8. Jayden Stone (13.7) and Trent Pierce (10.6) have been key contributors as well.
For Arkansas, which got 28 points and 13 assists from Darius Acuff Jr. in its win over Texas, are hoping to close the season with four wins in its last five games. Acuff is averaging a team-best 22.2 points per game.
The Razorbacks struggled early against Missouri in the last meeting, trailing 35-28 with 5:20 left in the half before closing on a 19-6 run.
Brazile ranks third in scoring at 12.9 points per contest and is excited about the potential of this Arkansas team.
"We've got a lot of stuff we still want to accomplish," Brazile said. "I don't want to say too much with this much of the season left."