Glenn Guilbeau
Videos by OutKick
New rule in sports – don’t dance on the other team’s logo.
No. 1 Auburn did just that in front of a record crowd of 20,327 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and paid for it with an 80-76 loss in overtime Tuesday night, snapping the Tigers’ 19-game winning streak.
It was Arkansas’ first win over a No. 1 team since coach Eddie Sutton’s team beat 21-0 North Carolina and Michael Jordan, 65-64, on Feb. 12, 1984, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Bud Walton opened in 1993 and has a listed capacity of 19,200.
“It was awesome,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said in a TV interview seconds after the game. “What a game! You know they danced on our logo before the game. We watched that. What a great win for this program. It’s so awesome.”
Auburn (22-2, 10-1 SEC) had not lost since a 115-109 setback to Connecticut in the Bahamas on Nov. 24, 2021. Unranked Arkansas (19-5, 8-3 SEC) won its ninth straight game.
Arkansas led by as many as 12 in the first half before Auburn narrowed the deficit to 28-25 at the break.
JD Notae led Arkansas with 28 points, including 11 of 14 from the free throw line and five rebounds. Jaylin Williams added 13 points and 11 rebounds. Au’Diese Toney scored 14 with 10 reobunds, and Davonte Davis scored 10.
Jabari Smith scored 20 points with nine rebounds for Auburn. Wendell Green Jr. had 19 points, four rebounds and five assists, while Walker Kessler scored 16 with a game-high and career-high 19 rebounds and seven blocked shots.
Kessler is the best big man I’ve seen in college since Greg Oden was at Ohio State. He can do it all and he’s still developing his offensive game. Folks say Holmgren at Gonzaga is the top prospect, who is a great all around player, but as a true big man Kessler has a rare ability to dominate a game defensively like no one else in the country. Auburn got tripped up at a tough place to play, it took everything Arkansas had to barely win, but they’re still the team to beat.
*Over 20,000 people Glenn