GAME NOTES: With each team looking to recover from a two-game skid, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Arkansas Razorbacks clash head-to-head in an SEC battle at Bud Walton Arena on Thursday.

After winning six consecutive games, Alabama enters Thursday's matchup on a two-game slide with defeats at the hands of South Carolina (68-66) and top- ranked Kentucky (70-48). The Tide are 2-2 in SEC competition this season, and are just 1-3 on the road.

Arkansas has also lost two straight to Tennessee (74-69) and Ole Miss (96-82) to drop the team back to 13-4 on the season. The Razorbacks own an identical 2-2 SEC mark.

The Crimson Tide will be looking to knot the all-time series up with a win over Arkansas, which owns a 29-28 lead. The two sides met just once last season, which saw Alabama come away with a commanding 83-58 win in Tuscaloosa.

It was a rough first half for the Crimson Tide as they ran up against top- ranked Kentucky on Saturday. The Tide found themselves trailing at halftime, 35-17, after the Wildcats were allowed to hit on 52.2 percent of their shots in the opening period. Alabama improved in the second half, but the deficit was already too great for the team to overcome in the lopsided defeat. Levi Randolph scored 13 points to pace the Tide in the loss, while Rodney Cooper chipped in with 10 points. Alabama hit on 44.4 percent of its attempts from the floor in the game.

The Crimson Tide have been dominant at home this season, owning a 10-1 record. But unfortunately for Alabama, this contest against an offensively strong Arkansas squad is on the road. The Tide will try to boost its offense which averages 68.9 ppg this season on 44.9 percent shooting from the floor. Randolph is the team's leading scorer this season, netting 15.0 ppg for the Tide with a team-best 46 assists. Ricky Tarrant (12.8 ppg) and Cooper (10.6 ppg) round out a trio of double-digit scorers for Alabama on the campaign. The team has built a strong foundation on scoring defense. The Tide are allowing just 62.5 ppg to opponents so far.

Oddly enough, the SEC's best scoring offense wasn't able to keep up with an extremely strong scoring effort by Ole Miss on Saturday in Fayetteville. The Rebels were allowed to shoot a whopping 56.4 percent from the floor as they racked up 96 points in the 14-point win. Arkansas connected on 41.5 percent of its tries from the floor, and was led by Bobby Portis's double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds. Michael Qualls and Rashad Madden each chipped in with 22 points in the loss, while Anthlon Bell added another 10 points off the bench for the Razorbacks.

Arkansas owns the conference's best scoring offense at 82.9 ppg, with an SEC second-best mark of 46.7 percent shooting. But the Razorbacks have struggled on the defensive end of the floor, allowing a conference-worst 71.6 ppg to opponents, which was very evident against Ole Miss. Portis leads Arkansas and the SEC in individual scoring at 18.3 ppg, while Qualls (16.1 ppg) checks in at second on the Razorbacks and fourth in the conference. Portis is first on his team and third in the league with an 8.1 rpg mark, while Madden is second in the SEC and first on his squad with 5.2 apg. He's also first in the conference at shooting from the free-throw line, connecting on 90.8 percent of his attempts from the charity stripe.

These two SEC teams will look to win using two different styles of play - Alabama with a defensive effort and Arkansas on the legs of a strong offensive attack. The home advantage will help the Razorbacks out heavily, and if Portis, Qualls and Madden are on point, the Tide will have a hard time containing the SEC's best offense.