Aggies roll past Razorbacks in SEC Tournament semifinal

TAMPA, Fla. — Arkansas’ run at the SEC Tournament came to an end Saturday afternoon with an 82-64 loss to Texas A&M in the first semifinal of the day at Amalie Arena.

The Aggies came out firing from deep, making five three-pointers in the first half while holding the Razorbacks to just 1-for-9 from behind the arc.

The Hogs hung tough, however, despite leading scorer JD Notae playing just 13 minutes due to foul trouble. Stanley Umude’s nine first half points kept the Razorbacks in at the break.

The Hogs started the second half strong, outscoring Texas A&M 12-5 after an old-fashion 3-point play by Davonte Davis.

Texas A&M answered with a 6-0 run to regain an 11-point lead (47-36). Stanley Umude made a pair of 3’s for an 8-0 run to cut the Razorback deficit to three (47-44) with 11:57 left but the Aggies were too much down the stretch to advance to tomorrow’s final.

Umude led the Razorbacks with 20 points with Au’Diese Toney adding 18 points to run his total to 40 points in two games in the SEC Tournament.

Arkansas will find out its seeding for the NCAA Tournament tomorrow during the NCAA Selection Show on CBS at 5 p.m.

Stanley Umude (SEC)

FIRST HALF: Texas A&M 36, Arkansas: 24

• Defense ruled the game early, neither team scored until 17:34 and the score was just 6-2 at the first media timeout (15:49). A&M was just 2-of-8 from the field early and Arkansas was just 1-of-7.

• Texas A&M warmed up from three-point range (finishing 6-of-11) and took a 36-24 lead at halftime. The Hogs were just 1-of-9 from 3-point range in the perio8d.

• Umude led Arkansas with nine first-half points.

Au’Diese Toney (SEC)

SECOND HALF: Arkansas 40, Texas A&M 40

• Arkansas came out hot to start the second half, outscoring the Aggies 12-5 after an old-fashion 3-point play by Davonte Davis. However, Texas A&M answered with a 6-0 run to regain an 11-point lead (47-36).

• Umude made a pair of 3’s for a n 8-0 run and cut the Razorback deficit to three (47-44) with 11L57 left.

• Later, Umude made 3 free throws and Arkansas trailed by five (52-47) with 11:02 to play.

• The Aggies answered with an 18-5 run over the next 4:16 to put the game out of reach.

• Arkansas shot 48% from the field in the second half, but A&M shot 58.1% from the field.

JD Notae (Arkansas Communications)

GAME NOTES

• Arkansas’ starting lineup was JD Notae – Au’Diese Toney – Stanley Umude – Trey Wade – Jaylin Williams for the 16th game (14-2).

• Arkansas won the opening tip.

• A&M’s Tyrece Radford scored the game’s first points, a 3-pointer at 17:34. Au’Diese Toney scored the first points for the Razorbacks, a layup at 16:34.

• Chris Lykes was the first Razorback sub.

• Notae converted an old-fashion 3-point play at 19:35 of the second half to score his 1,000th point as a Razorback. He became the 45th player to score 1,000 points in a Razorback uniform. He is the sixth Razorback to accomplish the feat in two seasons joining Mason Jones (1,146), Jaylen Barford (1,087), Daryl Macon (1,070), Bobby Portis (1,047) and Dusty Hannahs (1.047).

• However, Notae only scored five points to mark the first time this season he finished a game in single digits. He did add five assists.

• Arkansas reached its 17th SEC Tournament semifinal – and second straight. The Razorbacks are now 7-9 in the SEC Tourney semis.

• This was the first time Arkansas and Texas A&M had even met in the SEC Tournament. However, the teams played five times in the Southwest Conference postseason tournament (1976-1991). A&M won the first meeting, and the Hogs won the last four.

• Arkansas is 29-29 all-time in SEC Tournament games.

• This was just the second time this season Arkansas lost when having two days or fewer to prepare for a game. The Hogs are 11-2 this season in such games, including a win over Cincinnati to win the Hall of Fame Classic earlier this season.

• Jaylin Williams had a team-best nine rebounds to give him 317 to date this season. He moves to fourth on the school’s single-season list. He is four shy of third and five shy of second. Derek Hood holds the mark with 349.