FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas picked up an important win over Texas A&M on Saturday, beating the Aggies 94-75 at Bud Walton Arena.
The game served as a Quadrant 1 victory for Arkansas - the highest value placed on a matchup by the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Q1 is the first record that appears on teams’ postseason résumés that are reviewed by the committee and takes into consideration home games played against teams in the RPI top 30, neutral-site games against RPI top 50 and road games against RPI top 75.
Similar progressions continue for three more quadrants.
Arkansas improved to 5-6 this year in Q1 games, including 3-0 at home. The Razorbacks are 1-1 in Q2 games, 8-1 in Q3 games and 5-0 in Q4 games.
Texas A&M entered Saturday’s game ranked 18th in RPI, the first opponent in a five-game stretch to end the regular season that should count toward the Razorbacks’ Q1 record. Arkansas also is scheduled to host Kentucky (RPI 19) and Auburn (4), and play at Missouri (23) and Alabama (31) in the final two weeks.
Arkansas was ranked 32nd in RPI entering Saturday’s game. Most projections have the Razorbacks in the NCAA Tournament field, but near the cut line for teams that would receive an at-large berth.