FAYETTEVILLE -- Before Nolan Richardson was honored at halftime of Tuesday night's game at Walton Arena, Arkansas' all-time winningest coach talked to the Razorbacks in their locker room.
"Coach Richardson gave a great pregame speech," Arkansas junior guard Anthlon Bell said. "He really just got us ready to play. He was telling us to show everybody we're one of the best teams in the country."
Game sketch
RECORDS Texas A&M 19-8, 10-5 SEC; Arkansas 22-5, 11-3
STARS Bobby Portis had 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and Anthlon Bell shot 4 of 7 from three-point range and had 14 points for Arkansas. Danuel House made 5 of 9 three-pointers and had a gamehigh 28 points for the Aggies.
TURNING POINT After letting all but two points of a 46-21 lead get away in the second half as Texas A&M closed to within 74-72, Arkansas outscored the Aggies 7-0 over the final 1:30
KEY STATS Arkansas had 10 turnovers to Texas A&M’s 21 and outscored the Aggies 27-4 in points off turnovers.
UP NEXT Arkansas faces No. 1 Kentucky at 3 p.m. Central Saturday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
The Razorbacks listened and played vintage "40 minutes of Hell" in the first half while building a 25-point lead against Texas A&M as an announced crowd of 16,117 roared with approval. Then Arkansas suffered a second-half letdown when the Aggies pulled to within two points before the Razorbacks held on to win 81-75.
"I saw they brought Coach Richardson back, and it looked like they brought Corliss Williams and Lee Mayberry back," Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy said of the Razorbacks' fast start. "I really thought the first five minutes they were dominant and there wasn't a whole lot we could do. We were kind of stunned.
"I thought the second half we played with better pace, took care of the ball and had our chances down the stretch. We needed a few more breaks to beat a very good Arkansas team."
The No. 18 Razorbacks (23-5, 12-4 SEC) maintained their hold on sole possession of second place in the conference standings behind No. 1 Kentucky. Arkansas will carry a seven-game SEC winning streak into its game at Kentucky on Saturday. It's Arkansas' longest winning streak against conference teams since the 1994-95 Razorbacks won 10 in a row, including two games in the SEC Tournament.
Sophomore forward Bobby Portis led Arkansas with 22 points. He hit 9 go 13 shots and had 4 rebounds and 3 blocked shots.
It was the 27th time in 28 games this season Portis has scored 10 or more points and the 23rd in a row since he had six against North Texas.
Bell added 14 points for the Razorbacks, senior guard Ky Madden and senior forward Alandise Harris scored 11 each, and freshman guard Anton Beard had 8.
Junior guard Danuel House led Texas A&M (19-8, 10-5) with 28 points. Senior forward Kourtney Roberson had 14 points and 8 rebounds, and junior forward Jalen Jones had 10 points and 13 rebounds.
The Aggies, who trailed 46-21 in the first half, pulled to within 74-72 on a driving basket by House with 1:30 left. He was fouled on the play but missed a free throw that would have made it a one-point game.
Madden hit two free throws to put Arkansas ahead 76-72 with 1:03 left.
Portis then fouled Roberson, who missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity with 30.8 seconds left. Alex Caruso ran down the loose ball rebound but missed a three-point attempt.
The Aggies fouled Qualls, who hit two free throws with 23.3 seconds left to make it 81-72,
After a House miss, Qualls made 1 of 2 free throws. Harris made a steal and dunk for an 81-72 lead before Alex Robinson hit a three-pointer for the Aggies with a second left.
The game started with a three-point basket by Ky Madden, five points from Portis and a tip-in basket by Harris.
"A&M is a very good team," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "They weren't going to go away quietly."
Anderson said he wished he could bottle up the Razorbacks' first half for future use.
"We came out clicking on all cylinders," Anderson said. "There was energy in the building and we fed off it. We were making shots. We were making the extra pass. We were fixing things on defense. We had 30 deflections in the first half, and we talk about getting 40 for the game. So that tells me our guys were really dialed into playing defense.
"The second half we came out a little flat. That"s kind of hard to sustain that kind of play at that level."
The Razorbacks improved to 7-2 in SEC games decided by six or fewer points.
"To our guys credit, we didn't panic," Anderson said. "We made plays we had to have them."
House hit 9 of 15 shots, including 5 of 9 three-pointers.
"I thought House was fantastic," Kennedy said. "He was aggressive. He wasn't intimidated by the hype. He had a special game, and that's what gave us a chance in the game."
The Razorbacks beat the Aggies for the seventh consecutive time in Fayetteville going back to the teams' Southwest Conference days. Texas A&M's last victory at Arkansas came at Barnhill Arena, 87-69 during the 1986-87 season.
Sports on 02/25/2015