FAYETTEVILLE -- Five of Arkansas' final seven regular-season games are against teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament.
That stretch begins when the Razorbacks (14-10, 5-6 Southeastern Conference) play Mississippi State (17-7, 5-6) at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Bud Walton Arena. The Bulldogs are a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, according to bracket projections by ESPN, CBS Sports and USA Today.
Other SEC teams Arkansas will play who are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament field by ESPN, CBS and USA Today are Auburn (16-8, 5-6) and Kentucky (20-4, 9-2) on the road, and Ole Miss (17-7, 9-4) and Alabama (15-9, 6-5) at home.
"We've had a tough schedule all year long with this young basketball team," said Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson. "So, every game has been of significant magnitude, and it continues.
"It presents challenges, but they're great opportunities."
Having a shot to beat Mississippi State, Auburn, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Alabama presents the Razorbacks with the opportunity to play their way into the NCAA Tournament -- provided they don't lose at home to Texas A&M (10-13, 3-8) and at Vanderbilt (9-15, 0-11).
"We've got to have the mindset that we need to start coming out and playing like men," said Arkansas sophomore forward Daniel Gafford. "We can't just come out and have those bad starts we've had in those games we've lost.
"We just have to come out and play basketball every one of these games. We can't come out playing soft and playing slow."
Despite Arkansas losing four home games to Western Kentucky (16-10, 9-4 Conference USA), Georgia Tech (11-14, 3-9 Atlantic Coast Conference), Florida (13-11, 5-6) and LSU (20-4, 10-1), and on the road earlier this week at struggling Missouri (12-11, 3-8), the Razorbacks are not totally out of the NCAA Tournament picture based on the experts' opinions.
CBS Sports lists Arkansas as one of the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament along with Georgetown (15-10, 5-7 Big East), Oregon (15-9, 6-5 Pac-12) and Utah State (19-6, 9-3 Mountain West) in a field that among the lower seeds can change on a weekly basis.
According to ESPN, Arkansas is among "the next four out" of the NCAA Tournament along with Davidson (18-6, 9-2 Atlantic 10), Saint Mary's (16-10, 7-4 West Coast Conference) and San Francisco (19-6, 7-4 West Coast) after the "first four out" of Florida, Utah State, Butler (14-11, 5-7 Big East) and Belmont (20-4, 11-2 Ohio Valley Conference).
The Razorbacks already have three victories over teams that are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament field: Indiana (13-11, 4-9 Big 10) and Texas State (20-5, 9-3 Sun Belt Conference) at home, and at LSU.
What if Arkansas can add some more victories over NCAA Tournament teams, starting with Mississippi State?
"We have to be ready for any and every matchup for each of these teams because they're going to be tough teams down this last stretch that we have," Gafford said. "We want to make noise with this program, so we have to come out and play basketball."
Arkansas won four consecutive SEC games -- including 90-89 at LSU to break the Tigers' 10-game winning streak -- after a 1-4 start in conference play.
"I feel good about it, because we went on a run before and we can go on another run," said Arkansas freshman guard Isaiah Joe. "Beating big teams like (Mississippi State) will get our name up there.
"Hopefully, at the end of this season, we'll have the opportunity to be in the NCAA Tournament."
This week marks the first time this season Mississippi State has not been ranked in either The Associated Press media poll or USA Today coaches' poll. The Bulldogs dropped out of the polls after losing at home to LS,U 92-88, in overtime and to Kentucky, 71-67, last week, but Mississippi State bounced back to pound Alabama, 81-62, on Tuesday night.
"For me, this is the best game we've played since I've been the coach at Mississippi State," said Ben Howland, who is in his fourth season leading the Bulldogs. "No question."
Anderson said he is looking for the Razorbacks to play with the energy and sense of urgency needed to win big games late in the season.
"We're trying to find that consistency to play at a high level for 40 minutes," Anderson said. "That's when you start taking it to the next level.
"With seven games left on our schedule, that's the mindset right now, and the most important game is Mississippi State."
Sports on 02/16/2019