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.

Musselman, Toney, Umude after Hogs get blasted by Texas A&M

Complete press conference with Hogs’ coach Eric Musselman and players Au’Diese Toney and Stanley Umude after 82-64 loss to Aggies.

Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams, players after beating Arkansas to reach final

The Aggies keep rolling as one of hottest teams in basketball, downing Hogs to now play for SEC Tournament title.

Listen to pregame for Hogs-Aggies plus game here or ESPN Arkansas stations

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas probably expected to be playing Auburn on Saturday.

Texas A&M had other ideas.

Now the Razorbacks will face the Aggies at noon after A&M’s surprisingly big win over the Tigers on Saturday.

The two teams are familiar with each other. This is the third time they’ve played this season after each team won at home.

“I have tremendous respect for Buzz Williams as a coach,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said after downing LSU on Friday. “He has a group of guys that, much like us, got hot at the end of the year.

“They’ve done a phenomenal job of playing really, really good basketball lately.”

The Hogs got a double-bye to the quarterfinal. Texas A&M got one game off, then face Florida and won in overtime, 83-80. On Friday they dominated Auburn, 67-62 in a game that really wasn’t that close.

Arkansas used a big burst in the second half to roll through the Tigers for the third time this year with a 79-67 win.

The game will start at noon on ESPN with Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes calling the game while Marty Smith roams around looking for somebody to interview.

Pregame online and on the radio starts at 11:30 a.m. Listen online to Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman at HitThatLine.com and on the radio at ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and central Arkansas, 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home and on satellite radio at SEC Radio 374, Sirius 134 and XM 190.


Arkansas vs. Texas A&M

Current Records: No. 15 Arkansas Razorbacks (25-7, 13-5 SEC) vs. Texas A&M Aggies (22-11, 9-9 SEC)

Date-Time: Saturday, March 12 at noon.

Where: Amelie Arena (20,500), Tampa, Fla.

TV/Streaming: ESPN (Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and Marty Smith) and FuboTV.

Radio: Listen online to Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman at HitThatLine.com and on the radio at ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs and central Arkansas, 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home and on satellite radio at SEC Radio 374, Sirius 134 and XM 190.


Sportsbook Info (via BetOnline.ag)

Spread: Arkansas -6 (-110), Texas A&M +6 (-110)

Total: 138.5 – Over: -110, Under: -110

Moneyline: Arkansas -265, Texas A&M +225

Musselman, players after Razorbacks get third win over LSU this year

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman and players JD Notae, Au’Diese Toney and Chris Lykes after 79-67 win over Tigers at tournament.

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Arkansas “just better than us,” Tigers coach says after third straight loss this year to the Hogs, but looking to NCAA.

Hogs ‘just better’ than LSU after getting third win this year in SEC Tournament

TAMPA, Fla. — LSU coach Will Wade stated the obvious after losing to Arkansas for the third time this year:

“Arkansas is just better than us,” he said after the Razorbacks’ 79-67 win Friday in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.

The Hogs had a late six-point run to the end first half before opening the second half on a 13-point run to set the stage for a big second half.

Defense dominated the first half of the third meeting between the two teams with teams shooting under 30% for the half.

Au’Diese Toney (Arkansas Communications)

LSU’s Mwani Wilkinson made a jumper with just over a minute remaining in the half to give the Tigers a three-point lead.

Chris Lykes, however, took over the final minute of the half, sinking four free throws and nailing a two-pointer at the buzzer to end the half and shift all momentum to the Razorbacks.

Arkansas used that momentum out of the half to go on a 13-point run over the first four minutes to extend the lead out to 16 before an LSU free throw finally snapped the streak.

The Razorbacks’ smothering defense continued in the second half while the offense found rhythm, shooting 60.7% led by JD Notae’s 14 second half points.

Chris Lykes (Arkansas Communications)

Au’Diese Toney paced Arkansas with 22 points and 10 rebounds in his return from an injury. Toney was one of three Hogs to reach double digits with Notae adding 19 and Lykes 18 off the bench. Jaylin Williams led all players with 11 rebounds while scoring six points.

SEC Sixth Man of the Year Tamari Eason led the Tigers with 15 points but was held to just one rebound.

The victory advances the Razorbacks into tomorrow’s semifinal match-up with Texas A&M, who upset top-seeded Auburn earlier in the day. The Razorbacks and Aggies will tip off tomorrow at noon on ESPN.

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