Razorback basketball notes

Arkansas basketball notes

The Razorbacks are coming off Tuesday’s 67-61 win over No. 7 Texas and open Southeastern Conference play at home on Saturday at 7:06 p.m. against Mississippi State (10-5). The game is being televised by FSN.

At 12-1, Arkansas has the best record in the Southeastern Conference with a .923 winning percentage, despite losing approximately 80 percent of every major statistical category off last year’s team.

Junior pre-season All-SEC forward Michael Washington has three consecutive 20-point games. He had 22 in the win over No. 7 Texas, 34 in the win over North Texas and 24 in the victory over No. 4 Oklahoma. He is the first Razorback to record three straight 20-point games since Ronnie Brewer in the first three games of 2006 with 24 against Portland State, 25 against No. 3 Connecticut and 23 against Kansas.

Over the last three games, Michael Washington is shooting 75 percent from the floor (30-40), and averaging 26.7 points and 10.3 rebounds.

Arkansas has two wins over top 10 teams (No. 4 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas) in the same season. The last time the Hogs did that was just three years ago in 2006 with wins over No. 10 Florida (85-81 in overtime) and at Tennessee (73-69).

The last time the Razorbacks had two wins over top 10 teams at home is 2002 with victories over No. 5 Alabama (67-59) and No. 5 Florida (94-92 in overtime). The last time Arkansas had wins over two non-conference top 10 teams in the same season is 1994 with wins over No. 6 Duke and No. 9 Arizona in the Final Four.

The Razorbacks have won 10 straight games, their longest winning streak since the 1995 club won its last eight regular-season games and its first two games in the SEC Tournament. The last time Arkansas won more than 10 straight was earlier in 1995 with an 11-game streak.

Over the last four games, junior guard Stefan Welsh is averaging 21.3 points and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor (28-59) and 51.9 percent on threes (14-27).