Does Kentucky Give Arkansas Its Best Chance to Go Over .500 in SEC This Year?

Razorbacks will need to be able to hold serve in Bud Walton and steal a road win against a daunting final stretch of the season

Author:
Kent Smith
Updated:
Feb 7, 2023 12:39 PM EST
Original:
Feb 7, 2023

In this story:

Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – When Arkansas knocked off South Carolina for their first road win of the season, it finally allowed the Razorbacks to move to .500 in SEC play after a brutal start.

Hope sprang across the state that a winning record in the SEC, was no only a possibility, but almost a given considering how improved the team is and that a reasonable slate of games in Bud Walton meant that even one more road win might be enough to produce a winning record.

Just get through this Kentucky game in Rupp Arena and then go snag a game or two on the road.

Perhaps those people weren't looking at the schedule if the idea is that the Hogs need to just get past this Kentucky game. In reality, the game in Lexington Tuesday evening might be the Razorbacks' best chance at stealing a game.

Just look at the remaining road schedule.

At Kentucky.

At Texas A&M.

At Alabama.

At Tennessee.

Let's get one thing out of the way. The Wildcats aren't even close to being in the same stratosphere as Tennessee and Alabama in the realm of difficulty when it comes to stealing a road win.

If Arkansas goes into either place, it will be absolutely stunning.

As for A&M, they haven't lost a single home game in SEC play this year. If you're into impressing your friends with borderline impossible sports trivia, the Aggies only have one loss in College Station all season – against Wofford.

To be fair, Kentucky has only lost one home game also, but right now they don't have the revenge factor that Texas A&M will have against Arkansas and the weaknesses of the Wildcats line up well for the strengths of Arkansas.

This isn't some sort of guarantee that Arkansas is going to win. It's just a recognition that of the remaining road opponents, Kentucky is the least challenging.

Of course, that's like saying you can walk 12 miles, climb three miles up mountains, run six miles or bear crawl a mile, walking 12 miles would be the easiest for a regular guy to pull off, but it still isn't going to be easy or pleasant.

Arkansas has to win one of these, so Tuesday night is as good as any. Get another road win out of the way to fully shake the mental block and move on with life.

The game can be viewed on ESPN Tuesday night at 8 p.m. and on fuboTV.