The New Year means Southeastern Conference play starts for college basketball. The Tennessee Volunteers ranked 19th in the country traveled to Fayetteville to take on John Calipari’s 18th ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. For most of the game the Vols and Hogs stayed within a possession of each other however, late in the second half Arkansas would go on a run that would be capped off by Darius Acuff Jr nailing a 25-foot three pointer to put it away in favor of the Razorbacks. Tennessee drops their SEC opener to Arkansas 86-75.
Tennessee Freshman Amari Evens led in Volunteer scoring with 16 points, Greeneville native Ja’Kobi Gillespie knocked in 14 points and another star freshmen in Nate Ament scored 13 points. The Razorbacks Darius Acuff Jr led in way for the Hogs with 29 points.
Tennessee drops to 10-4 on the year and start SEC play 0-1. The Vols will have a quick turnaround when they return to Knoxville to take on Texas Tuesday night. Coverage can be heard on 102.5 WOW Country.