Arkansas closed out a much-needed win with a crucial rebound during the closing seconds of its college basketball game against Georgia on Wednesday night. The Razorbacks also went right back up with the ball to cover the spread with a brutal bad beat for those who bet on the Bulldogs.
It was entirely unnecessary, if not ill-advised to score in that specific situation.
Arkansas’ first college basketball season of the John Calipari era has been a bit of a rollercoaster. One-possession wins over Miami and Michigan were positive signs of success during the non-conference slate, even though the former is terrible, but home losses to Baylor and Illinois were concerning.
The Hogs still began the year at 11-2 prior to SEC play. However, they lost five-straight conference games to Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU and Missouri. Panic started to kick in and a group of SEC coaches ruthlessly dragged Calipari under the guise of anonymity.
Thus, a home win against a surging Georgia squad on Wednesday was crucial. And it did not look good at first.
Arkansas went down by 12 at halftime. That score differential remained at 12 until the 13:52-mark during the second half. Fortunately, the home team was able to rally and tied the game at 61 with just under three minutes left.
Both teams traded buckets over the next two minutes and 51 seconds, which leads us to our bad beat. Keep in mind that the Razorbacks closed as 1.5-point favorites.
Adou Thiero went to the line with 1.8 seconds remaining on the clock. He made his first free throw to give Arkansas a one-point lead. He missed his second.
Thiero managed to grab his own rebound to seal the win. All he had to do was hold onto the ball and the Razorbacks would’ve won, but the Bulldogs would’ve covered.
Thiero made a layup as time expired to flip the script.
adou thiero; arkansas' first conference win vs georgia pic.twitter.com/DsNqLtaUxD
— ◇ (@H00DH3R0) January 23, 2025
Bettors who backed the visitors were sick. Georgia was 0.3 seconds away from covering and lost by 3.