Anthony Black reveals what lessons he learned during freshman season at Arkansas

The Arkansas Razorbacks have had a wild 2022-2023 season. But that all came to an end on Thursday when they fell to the 4-seed UConn Huskies in the Sweet 16. The Razorbacks could not withstand the onslaught from the Huskies’ offense and ultimately fell 88-65.

It was a rough end to their magical run. Still, the Arkansas players learned a great deal through the highs and lows of the season. And after being eliminated in the Sweet 16, star freshman Anthony Black revealed what lessons he learned during his freshman year at Arkansas.

“I think what I’m going to learn from this is just how hard it is because we win two games and we’re playing well and we just — we came out of this game, played against a really good team. They jumped on us early,” said Black.

“Definitely, I’ll tell anybody who is going to go through this how hard it is; just listen to people who have been there before. They know what they’re talking about. But I mean, it was a good season for the most part. And I had fun this year.”

The ups and downs of Arkansas’ season

Arkansas was outpaced and fell behind big to end the first half. After keeping the game close for nearly the first eight minutes of the game, UConn’s offense found its rhythm and started to cook. The Razorbacks trailed by three, 20- 17, and then suddenly, they couldn’t stop the Huskies’ offense.

UConn went on a 16-2 run midway through the first half to push their lead to 17. That 17-point lead would be carried into the half, with UConn leading 46-29. In the second half, it was much the same as Arkansas was outscored 42-36, resulting in their 23-point defeat.

Black likely received a ton of knowledge information just from this one season alone. His Arkansas squad entered the year projected as one of the teams to compete for the SEC crown. But their up-and-down play within the conference derailed the Razorbacks’ aspirations of winning the SEC.

Still, in the NCAA tournament, Arkansas was able to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the round of 32 when they knocked off the defending national champions, the Kansas Jayhawks, 72-71.

With all that Arkansas went through this season, the team will likely be better poised for a title run next year. However, the question to be answered now is whether or not Black will return for another season. With Black viewed as one of the highly touted freshman talents in college basketball this season, there’s a strong possibility he will get drafted if he opts into the 2023 NBA Draft.

Time will only tell whether or not he uses what he learned in his freshman year to lead Arkansas on a possible title run next year or take his talents to the next level.