The Arkansas Razorbacks were led by Sophomore BJ Young who scored 25 points in their 91-82 loss to No.6 Syracuse at Bud Walton Arena on Friday. In front of a season high 19,259 fans and the much anticipated “White Out”, the Razorbacks fell just short on the national stage. Over 4,000 students came out to support the Hogs as (3-3) Arkansas played in front of its largest home crowd since the 2009 season under former head coach, John Pelphrey.
BJ Young finished the game with 25 points off 10-of-23 shooting to lead Arkansas and Marshawn Powell with 19 points to follow. The next leading scorer for Arkansas was Coty Clarke with 9 points and 7 rebounds.
Arkansas shot off to a 6-0 run to take a 6-2 lead with 18:09 left in the first half, but Syracuse would recover led by James Southernland who hit his first 5 attempts from the three point line. The Orange would go up by as many as 15 in the first half, but the Hogs battled back as BJ Young led the charge with 19 first half points. Down 14 points at the 7:21 mark, Arkansas began to chip away with a 9-0 run led by BJ Young that that cut the deficit to five going into halftime down 43-38.
To start the second half, Powell got to the line on their first two possessions and cut the lead to two, 43-41. The Orange would then go on a 14-1 run led by James Southernland again who finished going 9-13 from three point land and 35 points. Arkansas would answer with 10 points in two minutes to cut the lead to five, but could not get over the hump and take the lead since the beginning of the game. Powell finished with 15 second half points but Young was limited to just 6 second half points as the team only shot 39.4% from the field comparing to Syracuse’s 61.3% in the second half.
The Razorbacks will hit the hardwood again on Tuesday against the Oklahoma Sooners as Arkansas continues its difficult non-conference schedule.
