Aggies visit Razorbacks hoping for rare road win
COLLEGE STATION — Billy Kennedy served as an assistant coach at Texas A&M in 1990-91, so he was courtside for A&M vs. Arkansas in the old Southwest Conference and its accompanying rowdiness, especially when the teams met in Fayetteville, Ark.
Nearly 30 years later, the only thing that has changed on the rowdy front is the home conference of both teams, Kennedy said Friday.
“They put 19,000 fans in there and their students are right on the floor,” said Kennedy, in his seventh season as A&M’s coach. “Arkansas is one of the loudest places in college basketball. … Their fans are rabid, and it’s the only show in town it seems like when you go there.
“It will be a packed house, and they’re right on you for the whole game.”
‘Tired of losing’
That’s a big reason why the Aggies have lost nine consecutive games at Arkansas dating to 1987 and spanning SWC and SEC play.
“I’m tired of losing up there,” said A&M junior center Tyler Davis, who was been on two teams that each lost by single digits in Bud Walton Arena the past two years.
The No. 21 Aggies (17-9, 6-7) take on the Razorbacks (18-8, 7-6) at 3 p.m. Saturday in Fayetteville, with both programs trying to tidy up their NCAA Tournament portfolios. A&M whipped Arkansas 80-66 on Jan. 30 in College Station, with the Aggies now trying to sweep the season series after they were swept by the Razorbacks last season.
A&M had won four in a row before a 62-58 loss at Missouri on Tuesday night, playing without guards J.J. Caldwell, Jay Jay Chandler and Duane Wilson, who all had been on the roster days prior in the Aggies’ 85-74 home win over then-No. 24 Kentucky a week ago.
The senior Wilson aggravated a knee injury against the Wildcats and is done with his college career, while Caldwell and Chandler were arrested Sunday by A&M police on charges of marijuana possession.
Kennedy immediately dismissed Caldwell from the team following multiple previous suspensions and suspended Chandler, whom the coach described as a model student-athlete all the way up until his arrest.
Chandler’s suspension turned out to be one game, as Kennedy said Friday the former Cinco Ranch standout will return to the rotation against Arkansas.
“He’s practiced with us the last two days and we’re planning on playing him tomorrow,” Kennedy said following the Aggies’ final practice in Reed Arena before flying out to Fayetteville.
Caldwell and Chandler were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning while sitting in a car in the school’s post-office parking lot. A university officer in a police affidavit wrote that when the driver rolled down his window, a smoke cloud poured out and the officer “could smell the strong odor of burnt marijuana coming from inside the vehicle.”
Another officer then saw a “clear bag containing a green leafy substance on the floorboard,” although all three of the men denied its ownership, according to the affidavit.
“This is not a reflection of who I am or who I want to be,” Chandler posted via social media this week in apologizing for his arrest. “I have to learn from my mistakes and I accept the consequences.”
A chance to bounce back
Despite a losing record in SEC play with five regular-season games to go, the Aggies are still expected to make the NCAA Tournament based on their solid strength of schedule and beating two top 10 teams at the time in Southern California and Auburn. A&M ranks 18th in the NCAA’s RPI with seven wins over top 50 foes.
“They’re a hot team who lost a close game to another hot team in Missouri,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said of the Aggies. “They have one of the bigger frontlines (in Davis and Robert Williams) that you’re going to find in the country. We get a chance to play them again, and hopefully this time we’ll have a better performance.”