Arkansas holds off Auburn, 76-73, in SEC Tournament
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Anthony Black scored 19 points and Arkansas held off Auburn for a 76-73 victory on Thursday night in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Auburn used a 15-6 run for a 73-72 lead with 41 seconds remaining for its only lead since scoring the first two points of the game. Nick Smith Jr. answered with a jumper for Arkansas, and Davonte Davis then forced a turnover and added a pair of free throws to cap the scoring with 11 seconds left. Wendell Green Jr. missed a 3-pointer to end it.
Arkansas will play second-seeded Texas A&M in a quarterfinal on Friday.
Black was 6 of 10 from the floor and made 7 of 9 free throws. Smith finished with 14 points for 10-seeded Arkansas (20-12), which avenged a 13-point loss to the Tigers on Jan. 7. Makhi Mitchell added 12 points and Jordan Walsh had 11.
The Razorbacks shot 56% overall, made 17 of 23 from the line and outrebounded the Tigers 37-19.
K.D. Johnson scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half to lead No. 7 seed Auburn (20-12). Allen Flanigan added 15 points, Johni Broome had 13 points and Green 11.
Arkansas took the lead three minutes into the game and led 37-33 at the break. The Razorbacks opened the second half on a 11-2 run for a 13-point lead with 17:00 minutes to play and stretched it to 15 points about three minutes later.
“Nick read the defense well, was really aggressive,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. “He wanted the ball in his hands. I thought our guys did a good job of finding him and not rushing a shot. We rushed a shot about a minute-and-a-half before that.
“For a freshman to make that shot in an SEC Tournament game, that’s a big shot.”
Arkansas controlled matchup almost from the opening tipoff. The Razorbacks trailed for only 40 seconds of game time.
“I think physically they bothered us with their athleticism and their length,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. “As a result, we got dominated on the boards, which made it really difficult for us to win the basketball game.”