Tennessee basketball opened up SEC play on the road in Bud Walton Arena in front of a sold-out Arkansas crowd. The Vols played a stellar first half, but Arkansas executed much better down the stretch. Arkansas point guard Darius Acuff Jr. showed the country why he's one of the best freshmen in the nation with his 29 points tonight.
Let's take a look at three instant takeaways from the tough loss.
1. Amari Evans is the efficiency king
The freshman wing Amari Evans has really found his footing over the last few weeks. He had 16 points on 7-7 shooting from the field tonight. In Evans's last four games, he has accumulated 43 points in 55 minutes, showing off his ability to come into the game and make an impact.
It's nice to have a microwave off the bench like Evans, a guy who can heat up quickly. He has been a bright spot for Tennessee, and moving forward, he will be relied upon to be the engine for the second unit.
Having three more years of Evans is going to be exciting.
2. The last 10 minutes decided the game
This game felt like nobody could pull away for the first 30 minutes. The Vols were neck and neck, but a late-game drought proved to be the difference. Tennessee was up on Arkansas 58-55 with 9:44 left in the game when Tennessee was then outscored 31-17 to close out the night.
Nate Ament had a 5 second violation with about three minutes left in the game and the Hogs hit back-to-back circus thress that sealed the deal. Tennessee couldn't recover from this, as it put them down 79-68 with 1:57 left.
You just have to play a full 40 minutes if you expect to win in the SEC. Anything less, and it’s going to cost you, especially against a great team like Arkansas on the road.
3. The free throw shooting is now a major issue
Tennessee went just 10-for-21 from the free-throw line, and once again, it highlighted a glaring issue, as this team simply cannot knock down foul shots consistently.
Nate Ament, one of Tennessee's best free-throw shooters at 77%, was 5-11 going into tonight. I know it's corny to say, but if the Vols had made every free throw, it would have been a tie game. It's not fair to expect perfection from Tennessee, but that puts into perspective how much closer the game could have been.
If this team wants to have any success in March hitting the free ones is a necessity.