Hogwired.com: “Manimal” Double-Double Helps Send Hogs To SEC Tournament Title Game
Gary Ervin, playing against his former team, scored 15 points and Charles Thomas added a double-double to lead Arkansas past Mississippi State 81-72 on Saturday and into the SEC tournament championship game.
Thomas had 18 points and a career-high 18 rebounds. Sonny Weems also had 18 points for Arkansas.
Also:
- Hogwired.com: Game Stats (PDF)
- ESPN.com: Ervin, Thomas lead Razorbacks into SEC Tournament final
Photos
- AP Photos: Sonny Weems / Dietric Slater, Hog Fan, Steven Hill / Michael Washington / Ben Hansbrough, Stefan Welsh / Jamont Gordon, Rick Stansbury / Jarvis Varnado / Piotr Stelmach, Stan Heath, Rick Stansbury / Jamont Gordon, Stan Heath, Steven Hill / Michael Washington / Ben Hansbrough, Gary Ervin / Jarvis Varnado / Jamont Gordon, Patrick Beverley / Dietric Slater / Barry Stewart, Rick Stansbury, Steven Hill / Jamont Gordon, Richard Delk, Sonny Weems / Dietric Slater, Gary Ervin / Jamont Gordon / Richard Delk, Jamont Gordon, Stan Heath, Charles Thomas, Rick Stansbury
- Getty Images: Charles Thomas, Gary Ervin / Jarvis Varnado / Jamont Gordon, Patrick Beverley / Charles Rhodes, Rick Stansbury, Stan Heath, Richard Delk, Ben Hansbrough, Bernard Rimmer / Dietric Slater, Gary Ervin / Charles Thomas, Jump Ball, Ben Hansbrough, Stefan Welsh
Video
- SECSports.com: Post-game Video
- 4029TV.com: Razorbacks Are On A Roll
The Morning News
- Ryan Malashock: Return Of The ‘Manimal’, Arkansas Wants To Earn Automatic Berth, Not Take Chances
- Harry King: Arkansas Close To NCAA Bid
Democrat-Gazette
- Scott Cain: Exclamation points, Mississippi State put on lockdown
- Bob Holt: Thomas turns it up, is double trouble for ‘Dogs, Hogs, Gators meet again in Georgia
- Democrat-Gazette: In the Lane
- Wally Hall: Hogs show they belong in NCAA Tournament
- Terry Wood: Opening doors, Basketball Notes, Razorbacks believe in themselves even if nobody else does
Opponent and National Media
- The Clarion-Ledger: Bulldogs go flat, now await post-season fate, Tale of two games for Gordon, Bulldogs
- Bill Trocchi: Heath making his case with Hogs’ unlikely SEC run
- Mark Schlabach: Hog Heaven a little leaner this go-round
Updated 3/11/07 9:25 a.m.
Great game… what a job!
I'm amazed at how the football and basketball teams have paralleled each other this year…
Coaches in the hot seat
Must win seasons on the line
Player issues
Championship games
Common championship teams (i.e. Florida)
Common championship location (Georgia Dome)
Fan dissatisfaction
I just hope this team doesn't get "out coached" by another Florida team.
Go Hogs!
Do you believe in miracles….YES! How improbable is this? That win gets them in I think. Their RPI was 37 and should inch up after that win. Strength of Schedule is 12.
Congrats to Stan. You talk about nine lives…he'd burned eight of them after that Tennessee loss in Fayetteville.
Regardless of the outcome against Florida, isn't it nice to have a reason to watch the Selection Show on CBS tomorrow afternoon?
How can a coach get "outcoached" when the other coach supposedly had 4 and 5 star players? Fans cannot dinnegrate the recruiting stars and then say that a coach got out coached with lesser stars. No, there was no outcoaching, just a dropped ball for a quick touchdown that turned the momentum big time…I was there and everyone there could feel the Big Mo shift. Let's be more analytical with the whole picture. Now Heath will go against a team that supposedly has the best talent in the country and who won the national title last year. What we do not understand sometimes is you can replay a game over and over and a different result will occur on another date.
Great win for Coach Heath for a great guy. Go Hogs!
Apologies to anyone who tried to visit the site for the last 12 hours and experienced technical difficulties. We're still not back up 100%…but it's getting there.
I tried to explain to my hoster that it was the first time the Hogs had been to the SEC Tournament final since 2000 and that they needed to get their %^@! servers working again immediately!
Unfortunately, they apparently didn't quite understand the magnitude of the moment.
Since this is a Basketball post, I will do like Wally Hall and say that I stand by my comments with one slight exception… go back and look at the film… lots of opportunities to see how we were out coached – for instance how about the fake punt within their own red zone by Florida? That's just plain coaching – Baby (to get back on basketball lingo)!
I've been very impressed with our guys the past 3 days. I can't wait to see today's challenge. I won't go as far as predicting a win for the hogs, but win or lose, I do believe the Gators will have their work cut out for themselves. The hogs may have to play their best defensive ball game of the year today, the way the Gators are playing right now, but the way the Hogs are playing right now, they may be ready to do just that. Geogia and Mississippi have pretty much been pushovers the past 2 days. Something tells me Arkansas won't be the 3rd. "Sunshine", I agree, it will be kinda cool to watch the selection show today, knowing the Hogs will probably be somewhere in it! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO— PIG!!!!! SOOIE!!!!! RAZORBACKS!!!!!
Just looking this morning…none of the "Bracketologist" at CBS.Sportsline or ESPN have us in. Both have us as one of the last 4 or 5 out if we lose to Florida.
These guys usually are pretty close. That 7-9 record in conference play still kills us. You see now how difficult that "body of work" that the committee talks about all the time is hard to overcome at the end.
Better beat them Gators looks like.
I just read the article by Mark Schlaback, of ESPN.com. His comments about the Hogs chances of getting into the Big Dance seem to be way off base. Schlaback made the comment that the Hogs only top 25 win came early in the season, against Southern Illinois, in the Old Spice Classic tourney. Maybe I missed something. Didn't we beat Alabama twice, while they were still in the top 25? Weren't we the only team all year to beat Vanderbilt at their place, when they were in the top 25? How does the selection committee look at this? Do they look at where those teams were ranked at the time we played them, or where their ranked now? If somebody out there knows the answer to this, please let me know, I am very confused about this. Also, Schlaback seems to think that the Hogs may still need to beat the Gators today to get in the Dance, while most seem to think they will get an invite reguardless. I would like to think this guy is very mis-informed.
Every year several deserving teams don't make it. Hogs deserve it, but that doesn't mean they'll get in. Let's take NO chances and whip the Gators.