TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Travelers often rack up frequent flyer miles, but when the Razorbacks travel they get racked up by frequent fouling.

Five out of six times in SEC road games, Arkansas has been charged with more fouls than its opponent.

Five out of six at Walton Arena in Fayetteville, the Razorbacks have fouled less than their SEC foe.

So the Razorbacks, 18-8, 7-5 for second in the SEC West, are 5-1 in the SEC at home, though they did foul less than South Carolina in their home loss, and 2-4 on the SEC road heading into tonight’s SEC West game at Alabama (14-13, 3-9 ).

Tip-off is 7 p. m. and will be televised by Raycom.

Arkansas needed its 20 of 29 free throws and only 17 fouls to Alabama’s 10 of 18 and 21 fouls to stem the Crimson Tide, 71-67 in overtime back on Jan. 13 at Walton.

However, for Arkansas tonight in Tuscaloosa, it’s assuredly a rematch on the road. In Arkansas’ last three road games, SEC losses at Tennessee, Mississippi State and Kentucky, first-year coach John Pelphrey saw his Hogs committing 27, 23 and 21 fouls to 22, 17 and 10 for the Vols, Bulldogs and Wildcats. Subsequently the free throw differential for those games was Arkansas 18 of 29 versus 27 of 37; 8 of 16 to 23 of 29; and 10 of 14 versus 20 of 27.

Mark it down. The Hogs will be victims of foul play again if tonight’s foul charts read like that.

So how is Pelphrey going to curb his Hogs from fouling while simultaneously addressing lack of aggressiveness to the boards after Kentucky outrebounded them, 38-23 and limited them to a pitiful three offensive rebounds ?

“ I think there’s a mental toughness thing there, ” Pelphrey said. “ If there’s a common denominator to our problems inside of four minutes, it’s fouling. The other day [Kentucky overtaking Arkansas at the end to win 63-58 ] didn’t have to do a whole lot to get points. [Ramel ] Bradley made a big shot, [Joe ] Crawford made one, but other than that it was free throws. It was the same at Mississippi State. They weren’t made to perform.

“ Fouling on defense is just like a turnover on offense. So you have to be mentally tough, stay down, do the right things over and over. Don’t get caught up in the air. Block out. Keep your hands off of them. Obviously Kentucky did it, so it’s possible. ”

The setting can help the home team foul less and rebound more. They don’t call it home cooking for nothing.

But that’s life, says senior center Steven Hill, one of Arkansas’ five in rotation big men that Pelphrey has challenged tonight, especially with the Tide led by Richard Hendrix (6-9, 255 ) and the league’s leading rebounder.

“ We got a lot more calls at home than you do on the road, ” Hill said. “ You’ve got to take that in stride. Move your feet and stay smart. ”

Yet stay aggressive, too, particularly on the boards.

“ Coach Pelphrey never gets on to us about an aggressive foul, ” Hill said. “ He doesn’t like the stupid fouls, the reaching stuff. ”

Alabama is only 3-9 in the league but it’s no stretch to envision it winning tonight. Mark Gottfried’s Tide is 0-6 on the SEC road but 3-3 in the SEC at Coleman.

“ They average about 80 points at home, ” Pelphrey said.

Three of Alabama’s starting five — Hendrix, 6-6 guard / forward Alonzo Gee, and Mykal Riley, the 3-point shooting 6-6 senior from Pine Bluff — could well be in the NBA someday.

“ We had a hard-fought battle in Fayetteville and have to play much better even to have a chance in Tuscaloosa, ” Pelphrey said.

Gottfried gives the Hogs more than a chance.

He sees Arkansas senior Sonny Weems (26 points at Kentucky and 17 on Alabama ) on a tear, knows that Arkansas sophomore guard Patrick Beverley, last season’s SEC Freshman of the Year, can go on a tear and is well posted on Arkansas ’ postmen even if they didn’t deliver the rebounds against Kentucky.

“ With Weems playing at a high level these last seven or eight games you’ve got to do a great job defending him, ” Gottfried said. “ Their posts have always played well against us, and Beverley has always played well against us. They are not a one-person team. They have a lot of different weapons that can beat you. ”

Arkansas hasn’t won often on the SEC road since the century’s turn, but did conquer Coleman Coliseum last year.

“ We did win there, but last year is last year, ” Beverley said. “ It’s on the road and we have to do the right things. ”