Tigers fall to Arkansas in close game

By Sam Wilson

Published Nov. 30, 2007

Senior guard Stefhon Hannah scored 28 points Wednesday night on the road against a Southeastern Conference team. But Hannah said he was not happy about the night, because his team lost to Arkansas 94-91.

"I don't think about my stats," Hannah said. "I want to win. It's just always the thing I wanted to do. I love to win. I'm so competitive, that just came out of me."

Wednesday's game featured 21 lead changes. Senior forward Darryl Butterfield had a 3-point shot to tie the game and force overtime, but missed.

It might have seemed the game could have gone either way, but the assistant coach Matt Zimmerman said he sees a definite need for improvement in some areas.

"You score 91 points at home or on the road, you should win the basketball game," Zimmerman said. "But our defense was not near good enough. A lot of that had to do with just a lot of fouls. You're not going to win many on the road if you foul 30 times."

Hannah also said he felt the defense was an area that needed improvement. He saw another area to work on.

"We focused on the steal," he said. "If we don't get the steal, then we're lackadaisical on the half court defense. We've just got to get that together."

Sophomore guard J.T. Tiller said there is no such thing as being too aggressive as a guard.

"It's just knowing when to go for the steal and when to just lay back and play contain defense," he said.

Junior forward DeMarre Carroll has been one of the team's statistical leaders this season. But Wednesday was not one of his better nights. Arkansas held him to 11 points on 4-10 shooting from the field.

He grabbed just two rebounds and was limited to 22 minutes of playing time because of foul trouble.

"I think I could have done better," Carroll said. "But when I would get in foul trouble, my mind kind of gets bottled, so I really don't get into the rhythm of the game. I think I could have done better, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse."

Carroll had to deal with Arkansas senior Steven Hill, who is 7 feet tall.

Carroll stands at 6 feet, 8 inches, so Hill was a challenge for him.

"Just a bigger guy, so I just couldn't get my shots to go down," he said.

Zimmerman said he saw facing Hill as a test of Carroll's abilities. Zimmerman said Carroll has proven that he can handle players around his own size.

"But it's a whole different ballgame when you're going up against a 6-10, 6-11, 7 foot, 7-1, guys that are pretty long and athletic. It's a different kind of defender and so he made some nice quick moves, but there was probably three or four times there where he shot when he needs to kick it out. He needs to pass the basketball instead of trying to force it up against a seven-footer. I think it was good for him. The Big 12 is a big league."

Next up for the Tigers is another road game at 10 p.m. on Saturday against California.

"As long as we just focus on the main points of stopping the little things like half-court defense, rebounding, boxing out, stopping guard penetration, we'll be all right," Tiller said.