KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It was a pretty rough start for the Hogs. A couple turnovers and bad shot selection put Arkansas down 11-0 four minutes into the game. At the 16:00 mark of the first half, the Razorbacks finally scored their first points of the game with a dunk from Zvonimir Ivisic.
A big reason for the Fighting Illini's hot start was success from behind the arc. At the under 12-minute timeout, they were 5 for 8 from three-point land. In comparison, Arkansas was 0-4. It didn't help either that the Hogs were a bit sloppy with the ball early on in the first half with six turnovers also at the under 12-minute timeout.
Arkansas' Billy Richmond provided a spark off the bench in the second-part of the first half -- had 10 points at the half but the Hogs still trailed 49-34. The freshman was the Razorbacks' leading scorer at the break.
At halftime, Arkansas had still yet to make a three-pointer (0-7) whereas Illinois seemed like they couldn't miss at times, shooting 9-16. Four of the nine deep balls came from Tomislav Ivisic, the twin brother of Arkansas' Zvonimir Ivisic.
In the second half, the Hogs outscored Illinois 43-41, but were never able to clear the early hole they put themselves end, falling to the Fighting Illini 90-77.
