FAYETTEVILLE — Big Ten. Big stage. Big crowd. Big scare. Big victory.
It was all there for Arkansas’ basketball team Saturday afternoon as the Razorbacks held on to beat No. 20 Michigan 66-64 before an announced crowd of 19,050 at Walton Arena and a CBS national television audience.
“To me, it was fitting that we win, but it went down to the last second,” Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. “We were very fortunate.”
Michigan, which came into the game leading the Big Ten Conference race, never led Saturday, but the Wolverines had a chance to win on freshman point guard Trey Burke’s three-point shot over Julysses Nobles.
The ball started to go down, then bounced out, setting off a wild celebration by the Razorbacks and the first sellout crowd since 2009 against Georgia, when Arkansas honored its 1994 national championship team.
“We played very good defense that last couple of seconds,” Arkansas freshman forward Hunter Mickelson said. “[Burke] didn’t get very open, but he got off a good shot.”
Michigan Coach John Beilein said that on the final possession Burke had the option to drive for a two-point scoring opportunity that would force overtime or go for a three-pointer to win it.
“When he tried to turn the corner and he didn’t, then he sort of went for his own, which would have been a great ending,” Beilein said. “After watching literally millions of shots, I thought it was going to be a little bit short. But he had so much arch on it because he had to shoot it up so high.”
Michigan (15-5) beat No. 9 Michigan State 60-59 on Tuesday night when the Spartans missed a last-second shot.
“I’ve been on both ends of those,” Beilein said. “It was a great basketball game.”
Burke called it a good look.
“It looked good coming off my hand,” he said. “It went in and just came out.”
The game came down to Michigan’s final possession after Arkansas freshman guard BJ Young and Nobles, a junior, each missed the front end of 1-and-1 free throws with 21.1 and 16 seconds left. Freshman guard Ky Madden rebounded Young’s miss, forcing the Wolverines to foul Nobles.
“They were the cardiac kids when they went to the free-throw line going down the stretch, I tell you that,” Anderson said. “When you play games. you’re going to have opportunities to ease away, and we had those chances and we had the guys we want on the free-throw line, but they didn’t knock them down.
“We’ll use this as a learning experience. As a coach, you can tell them you’re going to be in those situations. Now making sure they shoot 500 free throws, maybe they’ll take that a little more serious.
“But it was a good win for our basketball program.”
It came four days after No. 2 Kentucky beat Arkansas 86-63 on Tuesday night in a nationally televised ESPN game.
“That Kentucky game was pretty rough,” Mickelson said. “But we had to bounce back from it, and we worked hard on the days leading up to this game.”
The Razorbacks (14-5) hit their first 11 shots and built a 29-10 lead. Madden had Arkansas’ first miss with 9:49 left in the first half.
“We were just ready to put that Kentucky game behind us and move on to the next one and show everybody that wasn’t our team and we just had a bad game,” said Young, who led the Razorbacks with 15 points. “We moved on to the next game and came out with high intensity and high energy.”
Arkansas’ biggest lead was 20 points, 34-14, after Mickelson’s three-point play with 6:32 left in the first half.
Michigan, which was led by senior Zack Novak (17 points) and sophomore forward Jordan Morgan (16 points), pulled within 46-33 at halftime and continued to cut into the lead in the second half.
“We couldn’t come out with a better start than what took place, but you’re not going to shoot the ball like that all night long,” Anderson said. “In the second half they came out and made some shots and we missed a couple of layups, and before you know it you could see the momentum changing.
“We kind of kept them a hand away, but you let a team hang around, there are windows of opportunity. I thought they seized those opportunities, and I thought we got a little more conservative in the second half.”
Michigan pulled within two points three times in the final 3:39. The Razorbacks’ only points in the final 3:15 came when Mickelson scored a layup off a pick-and-roll pass from Young.
“We put them in a special set that we run,” Anderson said. “BJ was having a very good game, and he made the right play. It was good to see him make the right play and trust his teammate. To Hunter’s credit, he showed his agility by going in there and finishing off his shot.”
Mickelson hit 5 of 6 shots and finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocked shots. Sophomore guard Mardracus Wade scored 12 points, sophomore guard Rickey Scott had 11 and Madden had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
The Razorbacks were down to eight healthy scholarship players after senior forward Marvell Waithe, who made his third start of the season, went down two minutes into the game with a strained calf. He came into the game averaging 6.3 points and 3.2 rebounds.
“All those guys are good,” Beilein said. “They have a lot of talent on that team.”
Anderson said he’s confident the Razorbacks will have more large crowds as they resume SEC play.
“I feel people are excited about this team,” Anderson said. “They play a relentless style. It’s not pretty all the time, but the kids play their hearts out, and I think Razorback fans appreciate that.
“For two hours it’s entertainment. Whether you’re for the Razorbacks or Michigan, it was entertainment today.”
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 14-5; Michigan 15-5 STARS Arkansas freshman guard BJ Young (15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), sophomore guard Mardracus Wade (12 points) and freshman forward Hunter Mickelson (11 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocked shots); Michigan senior forward Zack Novak (17 points, 8 rebounds) and freshman guard Trey Burke (13 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists) TURNING POINT Burke missed a threepoint shot at the buzzer as the ball went in and out of the goal. KEY STAT Arkansas shot 50 percent (24 of 48) from the field, including hitting its first 11 shots. UP NEXT Arkansas plays Auburn at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Walton Arena.
Sports, Pages 23 on 01/22/2012