Hogs gain substance over style
Aggies’ slower pace did not derail victory
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The style of play clearly wasn’t in Arkansas’ wheelhouse Tuesday night at Texas A&M’s Reed Arena.
And yet the Razorbacks bowed up against Texas A&M’s plodding, pound-the-ball inside approach and managed to out-defend, out-rebound and out-shoot the home team. Despite scoring 20 points less than its season average, Arkansas won 62-60 in its lowest-scoring game of the year.
Texas A&M did not make a shot in the final 6:51, when the Aggies were 0 of 6 from the field with four turnovers and Arkansas pulled ahead with a 12-4 finish.
“Our guys were connected,” Coach Mike Anderson said of his team’s defense during the late charge. “We started getting much better ball movement, and I thought we executed. We started putting A&M on their heels, and we started attacking the basket.
“We were in attack mode and that’s what you’ve got to do. I thought our pressure defense sped them up at times.”
Arkansas’ comeback from a 12-point second-half deficit — sparked by tenacious defense, a solid stretch of rebounding dominance and, unlikeliest of all, three combined three-pointers from Manny Watkins and Moses Kingsley — gave the Hogs a stirring comeback.
“That’s a tough thing to do,” Watkins said. “You see the home team get up 12, the crowd is into it, the clock is not on your side. You’ve just got to buckle down, and we did that.
“What we did is we said we were gonna do it with our defense. We obviously
didn’t shoot very well, but we know our defense can be there every single possession.”
Texas A&M held Arkansas at bay through the middle portion of the second half with strong post play. Tyler Davis, Robert Williams and Tonny Trocha-Morelos all scored on power moves near the rim.
Arkansas began limiting their touches by fronting the big men, doubling them and stealing some entry passes.
“They had started to pound it inside, which we knew they were because we’re a lot smaller than them,” Arkansas junior guard Daryl Macon said. “We kept with the game plan, which was to double the post. We didn’t always do that, and they got some easy buckets. But we stayed together during the adversity and that’s one thing that brought us back.”
The Razorbacks struggled to put Texas A&M away because of 2 turnovers and shooting 1 of 4 from the free-throw line in the final 40 seconds, but
they improved to 4-0 in games decided by five or fewer points.
Arkansas improved to No. 35 in the NCAA’s ratings percentage index and evened its SEC record at 3-3.
After losing at home to stout Florida and lightly regarded but rapidly improving Mississippi State among their first four conference games, Coach Mike Anderson’s charges had to gain back the lost ground on the road.
“We’re in a race, and we’re trying to catch up with the people that are in front of us,” Anderson said.
“Coach always tells us we’re playing catch-up now,” Macon said. “Every game is like a championship game now.”
The Razorbacks are the only SEC team with a 3-3 league record. Six teams are ahead of them — including Florida, Kentucky and Mississippi State, the three teams who have beaten the Hogs — and seven are behind them.
“We took steps backward not winning those games,” center Moses Kingsley said of the home losses. “We felt like we’re behind now, way behind, so we’re trying to catch up.”