Aggies, Razorbacks rejuvenated

FAYETTEVILLE — Coach Billy Kennedy’s No. 21 Texas A&M Aggies were the prevailing preseason pick to win the Southeastern Conference for a variety of reasons exemplified when they vanquished the Arkansas Razorbacks, 8066, on Jan. 30 at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas.

Arkansas (18-8, 7-6) welcomes A&M

(17-9, 6-7) today at 3 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena. The game will be televised by ESPN (Resort Channel 30). Coach Mike Anderson has led his Razorbacks to a 13-1 record at home this season.

“Our crowd is always fantastic,” Anderson said. “I think it’s worth 8-10 points. So for the fans, we need your points.”

Likely, the Hogs will need every home court advantage point and then some given how good the Aggies can be. The Aggies roared to 11-1, ranking as high as No. 5 in the country, through a tough non-conference schedule.

They have won four of their last five SEC games after a rash of injuries and suspensions ambushed them during an unfathomable 0-5 SEC start.. The skid comprised of home losses to LSU (14-11,

5-8) and Florida (17-9, 8-5), as well as road encounters of the losing kind at Alabama

(17-9, 8-5), Kentucky (17-9, 6-7) and Tennessee (19-6, 9-4).

Arkansas has often opened its SEC slate against the Aggies, but suffered the misfortune this season of not drawing A&M until Jan. 30, when the Aggie started their four-game winning streak. Anderson said A&M lost to “a hot Missouri team,” 62-58, a week ago in Columbia, Mo.

“I think they are better,” Anderson said. “And that was probably their coming out party when we played them. They made some shots.”

A&M 6-9 junior forward D.J. Hogg hit three quick early second-half threes to accelerate the Aggies’ advantage after a 33-32 halftime lead. Freshman point guard T.J. Starks hit 4 of 5 treys and scored a team-high 16 points with five assists and four rebounds.

Anderson said he believes his team is playing better than a month ago too.

Freshman Daniel Gafford has 46 points, 21 rebounds and 10 blocks in Arkansas’ last three games, SEC successes at Bud Walton over South Carolina (13-13,

4-9) and Vanderbilt (10-16, 4-9) and Ole Miss (11-15, 4-9) in Oxford, Miss.

Since Hogg and Starks hit their sprees of threes, followed by LSU torching the Razorbacks with 15 of 30 threes in a 9486 win in Baton Rouge, La., the Razorbacks limited South Carolina to 6 of 18 threes, compelled a good-shooting Vandy team to hit an abysmal 3 of 26 treys and kept Ole Miss to 7 of 23.

“I think our defense is much better,” Anderson said. “I think our guys are paying attention to detail and we’re fixing some things on defense.”

And on the boards. After the Aggies erased them 45-30 on the boards, Arkansas outrebounded LSU and Vandy. South Carolina and Ole Miss only outrebounded the Hogs by four and two, respectively.

Offensively, Anderson is getting more out of freshmen Gabe Osabuohien and Darious Hall, while still relying on Gafford and senior guards Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon.

“I think we have more guys ready to play and I’m trusting them to go out and play,” Anderson said.