Balanced attack helps Vols get past Arkansas

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/03/2010 - Knoxville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scotty Hopson led five Tennessee players in double-figures with 15 points, as the 16th-ranked Volunteers closed out their home schedule with an 80-73 win over Arkansas.

Wayne Chism had 14 points and six rebounds for Tennessee (22-7, 10-5 SEC), which was coming off a thrilling victory over Kentucky on Saturday. J.P. Prince, Bobby Maze and Cameron Tatum scored 12 points apiece for the Volunteers, who went 15-1 at Thompson-Boling Arena this season.

Courtney Fortson finished with a game-high 21 points, six assists and five boards for the Razorbacks (14-16, 7-8), who have lost four straight and five of their last six games overall.

Arkansas' Mike Washington logged 13 points and fell a rebound shy of a double- double.

A Hopson dunk gave Tennessee a 17-8 lead and capped a 9-0 run. The Razorbacks slowly chipped away, tying the game on two occasions before Stefan Welsh drained a three-pointer to put Arkansas on top, 31-30, with about four minutes remaining in the first half.

Maze hit a jumper on the next possession, and the Vols settled for a 39-36 halftime lead.

The advantage reached 11 early in the second half before Arkansas trimmed its deficit to 51-48 near the six-minute mark. Tennessee, though, responded with a 10-0 surge, and never led by fewer than six the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Tennessee shot 54.5 percent from the floor, while the Razorbacks shot 40.3 percent...Jemal Farmer scored 11 points for Arkansas, which got eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and three steals from Marshawn Powell...The Razorbacks fell to 2-7 in true road games...Both clubs wrap up the regular season on Saturday. Tennessee travels to Mississippi State, while the Razorbacks host Ole Miss.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.