Vengeance may not be at the tip of Arkansas basketball players’ tongues, but it’s safe to say the Razorbacks are itching for a shot at it, anyway.
Arkansas hosts Texas A&M on Saturday night from Bud Walton Arena and gets an opportunity to get back at the team that last beat them two weeks ago and sent them spiraling out of the NCAA Tournament picture. The defeat was a last-straw of sorts to the Hogs, who haven’t lost since.
The Aggies had to hold on down in College Station as Arkansas rallied from a 17-point deficit in the second half to pull within one point with a minute to play. Now, per ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology, Texas A&M and Arkansas are side-by-side in the “first four out” projection of the Big Dance. The winner will almost assuredly, combined with a second win later in the week, be “in” when he updates Friday.
Arkansas has been bolstered during its three-game winning streak by sophomore big man Jaylin Williams. He’s scored in double figures in four straight games and notched three double-doubles during the stretch. In the one game he didn’t get 10-or-more rebounds (he had nine), he scored a career-high 19 points. That was Tuesday against South Carolina.
Texas A&M enters relatively aflame, too. Coach Buzz Williams’ team had won eight straight before red-hot Kentucky beat them Wednesday by just six points. Their big man, Henry Coleman III, has also played well of late, scoring in double figures in five straight games.