Texas A&M led for less than five minutes against Arkansas on Wedesday night. They were the most important five minutes.
The Aggies haven’t lost since falling to the Razorbacks just over two weeks ago in Fayetteville. Thursday’s 62-56 win over the Hogs was their fourth straight and combined with Alabama’s loss earlier in the night, pulled them to within a game of first-place in the SEC.
A&M took the lead for the final time with 3:14 left on Dexter Dennis’ lay-up to break a 53-all tie. Devo Davis missed three straight free throws in Arkansas’ next two possessions and after his last one, Jordan Walsh was whistled for his fifth foul.
Arkansas went from the 7:07 mark to the 12-second mark without a single field goal. With 36 seconds left, Harry Coleman’s bucket inside made it a two-possession game. On the next possession, Makhel Mitchell was called for a charge and that was about the end of things.
Arkansas could blame its inability at the free-throw line for a big chunk of the loss. The Razorbacks played well otherwise, but a paltry 7-of-14 night fron the stripe was dooming. A&M countered by going 18 of 22 on its foul shots.
The Hogs’ loss is their second straight and dropped them to below .500 in SEC play. It also hurt their NCAA TOurnament chances and put them further on the bubble as they were a projected No. 9-seed and trending downward in Joe Lunardi’s last Bracketology update for ESPN on Valentine’s Day.
Texas A&M went almost seven minutes without scoring in the first half, starting 1 for 1 from the field before making just one of its next 15. By the time that cold streak was snapped, Arkansas still just led by four points as offense was at a premium for both teams in the opening 10 minutes.
Arkansas ended up shooting 44% from the floor and Texas A&M was at 35%.
The Hogs host Florida in their next game on Saturday.
[lawrence-auto-related count=1 category=130]
[mm-video type=playlist id=01fc3h383th881vsf1 player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=]