Pelphrey keeps pushing Hogs after win

Arkansas coach John Pelphrey saw the Vanderbilt win coming, but, win or lose, the 59-56 loss to Alabama on the road Wednesday was still gnawing at him Saturday.

So what does a coach do after a win over the No. 18 team in the nation? He makes his team practice.

“I wasn’t looking forward to a day off,” Pelphrey said Monday. “… I knew what I was going to do win or lose after Vanderbilt. I didn’t want those guys to have a day off to get a pat on the back, and told how great they were. They need to practice, try and stay on edge, try and stay focused.”

The Hogs were forced to leave three hours early today for Ole Miss because of the impending Storm of the Century rolling into Fayetteville this afternoon. As a result, no practice today in preparation for the Tuesday game at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Pelphrey said the team would practice in Oxford, Miss., tomorrow.

Arkansas, 2-5 in Southeastern Conference road games this season, will need to focus more than it has all year long, Pelphrey said, against one of the conference’s fastest teams to pull out a win and keep NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Pelphrey has preached and preached to his team, scheduled longer practices and even a 1:30 a.m. practice earlier this season. The message, at least last Wednesday, was still not getting across to his players at Alabama.

“What I have been doing hasn’t been working,” Pelphrey said. “Outside of Baylor, Auburn, LSU, we haven’t competed well enough on the road to win.”

Pelphrey, who has been a bit more candid in recent weeks (see mommy cutting bread comments), joked a bit about changing the Razorbacks’ regime in a search for on-court success at Ole Miss.

“I thought about letting the players stay up later, watch a few movies,” Pelphrey said. “Go for a picnic on Tuesday afternoon.”

In all seriousness, Arkansas has lost 10 out of its last 11 games at the Tad Pad in Oxford. That doesn’t bode well for a team that hasn’t been playing well on the road in… nearly half a decade.

“Let’s not complicate the fact,” Pelphrey said. “We have history that says Arkansas hasn’t competed well on the road and that needs to change. That doesn’t mean you’re going to win every time, but go compete. If you compete the right way, you give yourself a chance. I don’t feel like we do that all the time.

“That’s something I want to change. I want to see us do better. I don’t think it has anything to do with a pre-game meal or what time we’re going to bed. We don’t need to go see a movie or go bowling. There may be a point in time where we will do that. Our problem is between our ears, that six-inch playing field we talked about back in August.”

Filed under: SEC Basketball, Arkansas Basketball by Brandon Marcello. Posted on: March 3, 2008 at 4:32 pm