It might be October but it felt like the middle of March in Fayetteville on Saturday. The No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks needed overtime, but were able to knock off No. 3 Purdue in a charity exhibition game, 81-77.
In front of a sellout crowd in Bud Walton Arena, the Hogs were able to slow down the 2023 Naismith Player of the Year, Zach Edey, just enough to pick up the win. Edey finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds, but fouled out early into the overtime period.
Late in the first half, Arkansas was able to go on a small run to build a five-point lead heading into halftime, 31-26. Despite leading by as much as nine in the second half, the Hogs never really could pull away. The majority of the second half was back-and-forth as the teams traded leads 11 times on the day.
Purdue held a 69-66 lead with 37 seconds left in the game when [autotag]Tramon Mark[/autotag] hit a pull-up three to tie the game and eventually force overtime. In overtime, the stifling Arkansas defense was able to hold Purdue to just eight points on 2-for-7 shooting (28.6%) which was the difference in the game.
Five Hogs finished in double-figures on Saturday. Mark and [autotag]Trevon Brazile[/autotag] led the way, scoring-wise, for the Razorbacks, each finishing with 15 points. Brazile added 5 rebounds and 3 steals.
[autotag]Khalif Battle[/autotag] and [autotag]El Ellis[/autotag] each added 12 points of their own. The final Hog in double-figures was [autotag]Chandler Lawson[/autotag], who finished with 10 points.
Arkansas will officially begin the regular season one week from Monday when they face Alcorn State in Fayetteville.