#15 Arkansas falls at Vanderbilt 97-84 after Commodores' big 2nd half

No. 15 Arkansas fell on the road 97-84 at Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville.

After holding a 50-40 lead early in the second half, Arkansas then saw its advantage disappear. Vanderbilt shot 69% in the second half, as the Commodores outscored the Hogs 57-24 the rest of the way to knock off the Hogs, and drop Arkansas to 12-5 and 1-4 in SEC play.

The Razorbacks' struggles on the road continue as well, as Arkansas is 0-3 in road SEC play.

The game started off as a back-and-forth contest. The two teams were tied 22-22 at the under-8 media timeout of the first half. The Commodores were able to sustain 59% shooting from Arkansas by outrebounding the Hogs 10-2 on the offensive glass.

Ricky Council IV, who came off the bench against Alabama, earned the start against Vandy and scored four of the team's first 10 field goals.

The story of the first half though was how chippy the game became. Kamani Johnson received a technical foul along with Vandy's Jordan Wright after an out-of-bounds play resulted in the Commodore's Myles Stute on the ground. Johnson also received a flagrant foul for the contact made with Stute that sent him to the ground.

The more significant turning point came with the second dust-up of the half. With Arkansas up 35-32, Anthony Black finished at the basket for an and-1 opportunity. 

After the made basket, Black seemingly seemed to step over Vandy's Quentin-Millora Brown, and the two squads had to be separated again. Vanderbilt's Ezra Manjon was ejected for shoving Black in the back, with a technical foul assessed.

Vanderbilt's Jerry Stackhouse then received a technical for his reaction to the official's explanation of the sequence.

That led Arkansas to the rare 7-point play, leading 42-32 after the Black basket and six made free throws.

Arkansas went into the halftime break up 42-34, having shot 55% in the half with Black (15 points) and Council IV (16 points) combining for 31 of the team's points.

After the Hogs took a 50-40 lead early in the second half, the Commodores responded with a 21-6 run to tie the game 61-56, including a 6-for-7 start to the half from beyond the arc.

The hot shooting continued for Vanderbilt, as consecutive baskets from Jordan Wright made it a 69-59 Vandy lead, part of a 29-9 run and a 14-for-18 start to the 2nd half from the field (78%).

Arkansas was able to get to within six when a Joseph Pinion corner three cut it to an 83-77 lead with 2:20 left, but Vanderbilt was able to hit its free throws to maintain its advantage the rest of the second half.