Aggies Overcome Slow Start To Knock Off Arkansas 62-56

Texas A&M entered halftime one shot away from a double-digit deficit, but relied on its defense and playmakers to defeat the Razorbacks — maintaining its program-best SEC start.

When Texas A&M took to the Reed Arena court to face the visiting Arkansas Razorbacks, it was expecting a defensive struggle. Little did it know, that could not have been more true — as both teams combined for just 14 points in the first 10 minutes.

Despite the early lack of scoring by the Aggies, coach Buzz Williams’ team came alive in the second half on both sides of the court, hitting shots and causing misses to earn a 62-56 victory over the Razorbacks on Wednesday night in College Station.

To start the game, both teams came out aggressive, looking for easy looks down low. Arkansas freshman guard Anthony Black led the charge for the Razorbacks on defense, disrupting Aggie guard Wade Taylor IV — holding him to 2 points in the first half.

The Aggies stepped up on defense as well as Arkansas guard Ricky Council IV earned his first bucket with 3:18 to play in the first half. The Razorbacks looked instead to junior Davonte Davis who finished the night with 14 points.

The score was frozen at 11-4 in favor of the Razorbacks until a Dexter Dennis 3 brought the Aggies to within four. From there, junior forward Henry Coleman III had his way, getting to the free throw line multiple times to keep the Aggies on pace with Arkansas.

At the half, Arkansas held a 33-24 lead thanks to a strong midrange and good defense. But a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Aggie guard Hayden Hefner gave Texas A&M some momentum heading into the break.

And the Aggies capitalized. Fueled by a perfect 5-5 start to the half, including 11 quick points from Taylor, Texas A&M erased its deficit and earned its first lead of the half four minutes in.

Both teams continued to battle back and forth with Tyrece Radford leading the way for the Aggies. A couple of contested layups and active hands earned him 12 points and two steals to keep the Aggies in the game.

A strong defensive possession by Texas A&M with 11:36 to play told the story of the second half. The Aggies utilized constant movement to force the Razorbacks into tough shot situations and managed to match them on offense.

Dennis once again proved his ability to score down the stretch, finishing the night with a double-double, tallying 14 points and 11 rebounds. 

Arguably Dennis' most important points came on an offensive possession with around three minutes to play. He grabbed an offensive board off of a Taylor miss, putting it back up to give the Aggies a two-point lead right before the game’s final media timeout.

Out of the timeout, all momentum resided with the Aggies. A rowdy Reed Arena caused back-to-back misses from Arkansas’ Davis, followed by a game-icing layup by Coleman and a charge on the other end taken by junior forward Andersson Garcia.

The Aggies finished the game with an 11-point advantage from the free throw line, drawing 23 fouls and shooting over 80 percent from the charity stripe in their winning effort. The Aggies now sit at 12-2 in SEC play and are perfect in conference games at home.

Next up for the Aggies is a road game against a Missouri team coming off a 30-point loss to Auburn. 

Texas A&M beat Missouri in the two schools’ last matchup at home, winning in dominant fashion off of a career night by Hefner, who started the comeback for the Aggies Wednesday night and will look to continue rolling with a 12th conference win.

Tip-off from Mizzou Arena will be at 5:00 p.m.

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