Arkansas’ big man hits late basket to beat Vols 92-91

Slideshow: Arkansas defeats Tennessee 92-91

ATLANTA — Tennessee tormented Steven Hill all night, but the biggest of Arkansas’ big men came up huge when it mattered.

Hill’s runner with five seconds left lifted the Razorbacks to a 92-91 upset win in a Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal against the heavily favored Volunteers.

Senior guard Chris Lofton darted down the court but missed a jumper that would have given the Vols two SEC tournament victories for the first time since 1991.

“We’ve changed history all year long, and we wanted to keep doing it,” UT senior guard JaJuan Smith said. “This hurts. We wanted this tournament.”

The irony of Saturday’s game wasn’t lost on anyone, despite a furiously fast-paced finish.

Hill, a 7-foot, All-SEC defensive player, had missed his only shot from the field before his big finale. Lofton, one of the greatest shooters in league history, is the last player an opposing coach wants to see taking shots like the one that rimmed out.

“It just goes to show you games are not played on paper,” Razorbacks coach John Pelphrey said. “That was bizarre.”

Hill admitted that he was “shocked” when the ball found his hands on the run. He jokingly added that the game-winner didn’t come on his “go-to move,” and teammates joked that he didn’t have one.

“No, I obviously did not expect to take that shot, or any other shot,” Hill said. “It came to me, and I knew time was running down. I threw it up there, and it went in.”

But he also left Lofton five seconds — five “painful” seconds, according to Pelphrey.

“He’s awesome,” Pelphrey said of Lofton. “The bigger the game, the bigger the moment, he’s beaten a lot of people. We’re very fortunate he didn’t get us.

“It came out of his hand beautifully. I thought it was in.”

Even if Lofton had bailed his team out again, the persisting problem — again — was defense. Including Friday’s quarterfinal, South Carolina’s guards and Arkansas’ post players got whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it.

“We were supposed to front their big men and we just didn’t,” said UT’s Tyler Smith, who scored 24 points in a spectacularly versatile offensive performance.

The Vols were outtebounded for just the second time in 15 games, but they were beaten 34-22 on the glass by the Razorbacks, who shot 54 percent or better in both halves.

“You can’t win championships getting beat on the boards like we did,” Pearl said. “It’s very ironic that the only post basket for Hill was the last basket, but it was the same kind of basket that they were beating us on all game.”

Hill’s score accounted for the last of 17 lead changes in a game that started to look like it would be a typical Tennessee victory.

A Ramar Smith free throw put the UT up 74-65, but Arkansas went on a 11-2 run in the next three minutes to tie it on Sonny Weems’ first field goal, a tough jumper from the elbow.

Wayne Chism muscled his way inside for a layup that gave the Vols an 85-83 advantage with 3:12 left, but Gary Ervin answered with a 3 to put Arkansas ahead, and Weems added another contested shot to make it 88-85.

Lofton tied the game with an open 3-pointer and then gave UT the lead on a free throw with 58.2 seconds left, but Arkansas answered again, this time on a Darian Townes’ tip-in with to make it 90-89.

JaJuan Smith snuck inside with 20.1 seconds left to give the Vols their last lead.

Tennessee still has a strong case for its first No. 1 NCAA tournament seed, but the selection committee often gives strong consideration to conference tournament play.

Lofton, JaJuan Smith and Tyler Smith all said the Vols still “deserved” a top seed. Pearl claimed that UT’s current RPI rating is the second highest of any team the past 15 years — behind only Duke in 1999.

“That Tennessee team carried the banner for this conference all season,” Pearl said. “I’m not in that room. I’m not on that (NCAA selection) committee.

“Wherever we’re seeded, we’ll go play, but we’ve got to be right there. We’ve got to be under consideration for it. We’ve got two or three of the best road wins in the country.

“We hope to continue to represent the SEC with great pride.”