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#10 Arkansas stuns #2 St. John’s in Providence behind elite defensive performance

In mid-January, Arkansas was dead in the water, sitting at an 11-7 record overall and an 0-5 record in the SEC. The Razorbacks would go 9-6 from that point until the NCAA Tournament, winning road games against Kentucky, Texas, and Vanderbilt over that stretch. In round one, Arkansas battled past Kansas 79-72 behind 22 points from Jonas Aidoo, setting up a second-round matchup with second-seeded St. John’s in Providence.

The Hogs won’t get any style points for the win but were able to punch their ticket to the Sweet 16 after a 75-66 victory in a dogfight against the Red Storm. Arkansas shot 42.9% from the field and 19-of-27 from the free throw line but went just 2-of-19 from three-point range. The Razorbacks’ defense turned the water off on St. John’s though, holding the Red Storm to 28.0% from the field and 2-of-22 from three. If it weren’t for the Razorbacks’ foul trouble and the Red Storm’s 22-of-31 mark from the free throw line, Coach Cal’s squad could’ve run away with the win much earlier.

Arkansas held the lead for much of the first half, building up a 22-14 lead 12 minutes in. St. John’s responded with an 18-6 run to take the lead behind seven points from Zuby Ejiofor. Just ahead of halftime Arkansas would nudge back in front though, scoring the half’s final seven points with Boogie Fland putting the Hogs up 35-32 just ahead of the buzzer.

D.J. Wagner led a high-flying Arkansas team out of the locker room though, as the Razorbacks quickly built up a double-digit lead. The largest the lead would get was 55-42, after a Johnell Davis layup with 11:32 to play. St. John’s continued to crawl back, coming within two points of Arkansas several times over the next seven minutes.

Arkansas had one last notch to turn up the defensive level though, allowing just two points over the final four minutes. Trevon Brazile, Billy Richmond III, and Wagner had the key buckets as Arkansas ran away with a 75-66 win. Zuby Ejiofor was the only St. John’s player who could get anything consistent all afternoon, scoring 23 points and 12 rebounds, while Arkansas was led in scoring by Richmond’s 16 points off the bench.

From what looked like a team that wouldn’t sniff the NCAA Tournament in mid-January, John Calipari has turned this group into a second-weekend team. Boogie Fland’s return from injury has provided a boost, and this Arkansas team may get deeper as soon as next weekend with Adou Thiero working his way back from an injury. As of now, Coach Cal is rolling with eight guys, and after dealing with severe foul trouble on Saturday, this team seems ready for anything that gets thrown its way.

The Razorbacks will meet Texas Tech in the West Region semifinal while Florida is the favorite to come out of the top half of the bracket in the West.

Other Things to Note:

• NCAA Tournament second round action continues Sunday at 12:10 ET with games on CBS, TNT, TBS, and TruTV