Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari. Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

No. 17 Arkansas at No. 21 Georgia takeaways: Another slow road start dooms Razorbacks

By Samuel Stubbs | Last updated Jan 17, 2026 6:29 PM ET

No. 17 Arkansas' road woes continued on Saturday, as the Razorbacks fell to No. 21 Georgia 90-76 inside Stegeman Coliseum in Athens. Here are four takeaways from Saturday's game.

Slow start dooms Arkansas

In a similar fashion to their Jan. 10 road loss to Auburn, Arkansas came out of the gates incredibly slow on Saturday.

Georgia led 11-0 and 19-3 in the opening minutes before the Hogs finally settled in, and still trailed by 13 at halftime. Arkansas eventually got itself back into the game — something it didn't do against Auburn — but it didn't have enough in the tank to overcome the hole it dug early in the game.

Blue Cain takes over

Georgia's Blue Cain was the hero of Saturday's contest. The junior from Knoxville, Tennessee, scored 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the floor and made several clutch shots in the closing minutes to clinch the win for UGA.

Blue pic.twitter.com/TGzhvtiDr7
— Georgia Basketball (@UGABasketball) January 17, 2026

Cain is one of the Bulldogs' glue guys, and if he has a solid afternoon on the scoreboard, there's a good chance that Georgia will at least have an opportunity to win the game.

A tale of two freshmen

Arkansas freshman guard Darius Acuff Jr. has been arguably the best player in the SEC and one of the best freshmen in the country so far this season. After putting up 18 points and 13 assists in Arkansas' blowout win over South Carolina on Wednesday, he scored 20 more and had six assists on Saturday afternoon.

Behind the arc pic.twitter.com/9yCAPtTfa7
— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball (@RazorbackMBB) January 17, 2026

Acuff's partner in crime for much of the season has been fellow freshman guard Meleek Thomas, who scored 21 against South Carolina on Wednesday. But Thomas was ice cold on Saturday, scoring just seven points on 3-of-16 shooting from the field and a 1-of-6 mark from beyond the arc.

Billy Richmond III keeps Arkansas alive

Richmond was one of only three Hogs to get into double figures, and he was a huge reason why Arkansas managed to claw its way back into the game.

Acuff Jr. Richmond III pic.twitter.com/awHV3baLRe
— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball (@RazorbackMBB) January 17, 2026

Richmond scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting and had nine rebounds in the loss. He also had a "SportsCenter" top-10 worthy block on Georgia's Somto Cyril that led to an Arkansas bucket.

Samuel Stubbs

Hailing from the same neck of the woods as NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin, Samuel has been covering NASCAR for Yardbarker since February 2024. He has been a member of the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) since October of 2024. When he’s not writing about racing, Samuel covers Arkansas Razorback basketball for Yardbarker

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