COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Five observations from Arkansas’ 62-60 win at Texas A&M.
— Defense keys win
Tonny Trocha-Morelos hit a jumper to extend Texas A&M’s lead to 56-50 with 6:52 remaining. From that point on, the Aggies missed their six shots and turned the ball over four times as Arkansas closed with a 12-4 run to earn Mike Anderson his first win in College Station in seven tries.
The Razorbacks clamped down on defense, which allowed them to take the lead and then hold off the Aggies despite turning the ball over twice and making just one of four free throws in the final 40 seconds.
The effort on that end of the court was impressive, even when taking into account that Texas A&M has been one of the worst offensive teams in SEC play, averaging just 95.9 points per 100 possessions, which ranks 12th in the conference.
Manny Watkins played great defense on D.J. Hogg down the stretch, Arlando Cook had several key sequences, the Razorbacks kept stud Aggie center Tyler Davis from scoring in the final 10 minutes, held the Aggies without a 3-pointer in the final 13 minutes and only gave up one offensive rebound in the second half — all recipes for success.
The Razorbacks did a better job nailing their rotations with consistency, springing fewer leaks with miscommunications than they had in the past. Texas A&M went seven straight possessions without scoring after Trocha-Morelos’ jumper put them up six.
Arkansas took control during that stretch and then relied on its defense late to come through for a massive road win. It wasn’t always pretty, but a gritty win is better than a pretty loss and the Hogs are 4-0 in games decided by five or fewer points.
— Manny Watkins, sniper
What in the world, Manny Watkins. The senior defensive stalwart went without a made 3-pointer (and only eight attempts) for the first 92 games and 1,511 minutes of his career. He made his first career 3 on Saturday against Missouri, took 3 more and missed them all.
He didn’t miss Tuesday. Watkins hit all three of his 3-pointers, including two big ones in the second half to keep Arkansas afloat, trimming 9-point deficits to 6 both times, important shots that made it possible for the Razorbacks to mount their comeback late.
Davis was very complimentary of Watkins after the game, saying that while his shooting wasn’t on the A&M scouting report (duh), the Aggie coaching staff made sure to note that he impacted the game with his energy. Davis sounded like a believer. Watkins was plus-16 in 23 minutes, tied for tops on the team with Arlando Cook (more on him in a bit).
He’ll be hard-pressed to maintain the torrid shooting and defenses will still happily give him uncontested 3s unless he can prove it’s more than a one-week hot streak. But it’s a shot he’s worked on and one he now, finally appears comfortable taking in games. If he can become a passable threat from the perimeter in the final semester of his college career, that will do wonders for the offense.
Even without the perimeter shooting, Watkins’ versatility and ability as a defender, above-average rebounding and combination of instincts and want-to is invaluable. His ability to force Hogg into a contested mid-range jumper on the potential go-ahead possession by the Aggies was huge, but the Hogs aren’t in that position without his earlier shooting.
Put it this way: A Manny Watkins’ 3-point barrage may have played a role in saving Arkansas’ season.
— Hogs win battle on boards
Moses Kingsley had only come down with one rebound when the game hit the four-minute mark of the second half. Turns out, that was somewhat by design.
But he made a huge impact on the boards when it counted most, grabbing three offensive rebounds in the span of 36 seconds, the last of which was a tip-in off a Daryl Macon miss to give the Razorbacks the lead for good with 3:15 left. Talk about a grown-man possession. Kingsley just out-efforted everyone on the court to keep the possession alive until he finally finished it himself.
Arkansas outrebounded Texas A&M 36-32, joining Southern Cal, UCLA, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Kentucky as the only teams to outrebound the Aggies in 17 games.
The Razorbacks did it in large part thanks to 11 offensive rebounds, including five in the final four minutes. Kingsley had his three, Watkins snared one to extend a possession that resulted in two Macon made free throws and the Hogs got the ball back after it went out off A&M following Jaylen Barford’s second missed free throw in the final minute. The offensive rebounding and second-half 3-point shooting (Hogs made 4 of their final 8) helped Arkansas rally on a night when its offense was often stagnant and marred with possessions that ended in ugly, forced shots late in the clock.
But just as important was the Razorbacks’ work on the defensive glass. Texas A&M entered the night ranked sixth in the nation in offensive rebounding rate, snagging two of every five misses. With Arkansas’ issues on the defensive glass, the rebound battle seemed like a major area for concern entering the night. But the Aggies finished with just seven offensive boards, pulling down a measly (for them) 22.6 percent of their misses.
Texas A&M mauled Arkansas early, outrebounding the Hogs 13-5 after 9:05. But credit to the Razorbacks, they won the battle by 12 the rest of the way.
Even though Kingsley grabbed just one offensive rebound, he was key in keeping Davis off the offensive boards. Kingsley and Trey Thompson focused on boxing the 6-foot-10, 250-pounder out, relying on the guards to clean the glass.
Davis had just one offensive rebound and it came within the first six minutes of the game. Three of Williams’ 10 rebounds came on the offensive end, but boxing out a long, 6-9, uber-bouncy athlete is easier said than done. He’s going to rebound out of his immediate area.
Arkansas turned one of its biggest areas of weakness into a strength and a key in earning an important road win.
— Cook provides spark
Dustin Thomas and Arlando Cook combined for all 40 of the minutes at the 4 on Tuesday. Thomas started and the Hogs were minus-14 in his 19 minutes on the floor. Cook was plus-16 in his 21 minutes off the bench. The Hogs won by two.
Cook finished with 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. He came off the bench and immediately grabbed a few contested rebounds in traffic, impressive boards for a player who entered the game dead last among the Razorback bigs with an 8.8 rebound percentage. His motor was evident. They seemed to help change the tone of the game after Arkansas had struggled mightily against a larger A&M frontline in the early stages of the game.
Cook closed the game alongside Kingsley and made a trio of massive defensive plays in the final 4 minutes. He entered the night with eight blocks and eight steals all season, then came up with two steals and a block during the game’s final 5:16 as Arkansas shut Texas A&M down.
His activity throughout and especially late was vital. It’s been a guessing game trying to figure out which 4 will produce on a given night all season long. Both Cook and Thomas have had stretches of solid play and swoons where their weaknesses cut into their minutes.
Tuesday it was Cook’s turn. Texas A&M seemed like a matchup that might require Anderson to turn to the Trey Thompson-Moses Kingsley pairing he’s tinkered with the last two weeks, but it turned out that Cook was the answer Tuesday.
— Post-play differences
Arkansas got the stops it needed late and kept Davis from being a factor down the stretch, but he was unstoppable when he got the ball in the paint for most of the game.
The Hogs began the game by doubling Davis and Williams on the catch, trying to swarm the Aggies’ best players and get the ball into the hands of their underwhelming guards. Arkansas came from different places, at times digging down with its guards or sliding a big over to form the double. The rotations were generally good and it helped that A&M's guards, aside from Admon Gilder early, were mostly no-shows.
The doubles were definitely needed. Much of the game, Davis was dominant. He made 4 of 5 shots and hit all six of his free throws. Scoring 14 points and doing it on 2.8 points per shot is highly impressive, especially factoring in that most of his buckets came on back-to-the-basket post-ups, an action that is relatively inefficient for even the most skilled post scores. Three of his 4 baskets came off post-ups, the result of his size, precise footwork and soft touch.
The difference between Davis post-ups and Kingsley on the other end was striking.
Kingsley finished with 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting with three turnovers, largely struggling on his post-up touches with the exception of two strong finishes. He impacted the game in other ways, but feeding him the ball on the block and asking him to create a shot continues to produce less-than-stellar results.
Kingsley’s 0.857 points per possession on post-ups Tuesday made the action hardly an efficient one. None of his post-ups led to assists, a key in making the decision to dump the ball on the block worthwhile. His struggles were a continuation of a year-long trend and part of a shaky team-wide offensive performance for much of Tuesday’s game.
Arkansas as a whole averaged just 0.939 points per possession, much less than its season average of 1.112, which ranks 32nd in the nation.
Williiams is a potential lottery pick if (when) he leaves College Station after this year. Davis will have a chance to play pro ball. The Aggie frontline is one of the best in the SEC and showed flashes of why Tuesday.
Stray Thoughts
— Daryl Macon entered the night shooting 89.9 percent from the foul line this year and hadn’t missed more than one free throw in any game this season. He missed three Saturday, including a potentially critical foul shot with 5 seconds left that could’ve extended the lead to 3. But he still hit a solid 9 of 12 and sank 7 of 8 in the final 5 minutes to help the Razorbacks take and preserve the lead. He’s been overwhelmingly clutch in late-game situations. He also knows how to inflate contact to get whistles. He got bumped on the sideline late in the second half and sold the call, cracking a smile when he got it.
— Jaylen Barford, on the other hand, missed two free throws with 26 seconds left and Arkansas clinging to a 61-60 lead. The second miss wasn’t even close. The trip could’ve proved costly if A&M’s offense could’ve generated a score.
— Not a great game from Anton Beard. Had just 2 points on 1 of 3 shooting with no assists and 2 turnovers in 21 minutes. Didn't break the defense down and set his teammates up, which had been arguably the best part of his game recently. Both of his last two games have gotten off to rough starts since he was moved back into the starting lineup. Still makes sense to start him, but the Hogs need more from their best distributor.
— Having a 6-9 primary ballhandler like Hogg is a luxury, but he struggled for much of the game. Arkansas’ shored guards seemed to get underneath him and make him uncomfortable, while it’s possible the ankle injury he sustained Saturday against Mississippi State was still bothering him. He shot just 2 of 12.
— A&M's student section is vastly superior to Arkansas'. Not a great crowd overall.
— There was a Clippers scout in the building. Williams was clearly the main draw. Some A&M photographers were talking in the media room about whether Macon was an NBA prospect. He impressed them.