A nearly sold-out Bud Walton Arena crowd exited the building at about 10 p.m. Saturday and wiped collective sweat off their brow.
Arkansas never allowed Texas A&M to lead in regulation, but an Aggies 3-pointer with 9.1 seconds left sent the game to overtime before the Razorbacks held off any further A&M charge and won,76-73.
The win was Arkansas’ (14-5, 4-3) fourth in a row after starting 0-3 in conference play. The last time it lost was against Texas A&M (15-4, 4-2) in College Station during the first week of January.
Arkansas built its big lead early in the first half before Texas A&M pulled within three points three different times in the second half. With about four minutes left, the Aggies finally tied the game as Arkansas was in the midst of a 1-for-10 stretch.
But a JD Notae lay-up snapped the cold streak with about four minutes left and put the Hogs ahead, 58-56. Jaylin Williams nabbed a steal on the other end and Stanley Umude canned a pair of free throws immediately after to move Arkansas back ahead by four.
Notae, who fouled out with about a minute left, led four Arkansas players in double figures with 17 as coach Eric Musselman shortened his bench to practically just one reserve Saturday to that point. Williams also notched his fourth double-double in the last five games, scoring 14 points and collecting 11 rebounds. His jumper with 11 seconds left put Arkansas ahead by three and he had three assists, three blocks and six steals.
Aggies freshman guard Wade Taylor IV led all scorers with a career-high 25 points. Stanley Umude had 15 for Arkansas and Au’Diese Toney added 12 more.
The two teams were side-by-side in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update Friday on ESPN.com.
Arkansas next plays Wednesday at Ole Miss (9-9, 1-5).