SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL

Hogs' SEC seed does not sprout

Texas A&M's Emanuel Miller (5) and Josh Nebo (32) vie for a rebound against Arkansas' Adrio Bailey (2) during an NCAA college basketball game game at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas, Saturday, March 7, 2020. (Michael Miller/College Station Eagle via AP)

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- The University of Arkansas basketball team now likely needs to win the SEC Tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament, and the Razorbacks will have to do it the hard way.

Arkansas must win five games in five days in Nashville, Tenn., to win the SEC Tournament to earn the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.

That seems to be Arkansas' only path for a bid after Texas A&M beat the Razorbacks 77-69 on Saturday in Reed Arena.

The Razorbacks (19-12, 7-11 SEC) fell to the No. 11 seed in the SEC Tournament and will play No. 14 seed Vanderbilt on Wednesday night in Bridgestone Arena.

Texas A&M came into Saturday's game No. 114 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) rankings, so a loss to the Aggies likely dealt a fatal blow to the Razorbacks' NCAA Tournament at-large hopes.

Arkansas' NET ranking was No. 41 coming into the game.

"Our chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament are getting real slim," Arkansas sophomore guard Isaiah Joe said. "We couldn't afford to lose a game like this.

"It was a big game -- probably the biggest game of the season -- and we choked."

Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman didn't want to look too far ahead when asked about the Razorbacks' challenge of winning the SEC Tournament.

"We've got to just figure out a way to win a game," Musselman said. "That's kind of all we can do."

Texas A&M (16-14, 10-8) led the entire second half after Arkansas jumped ahead 28-21 in the first half.

The Aggies outscored the Razorbacks 12-2 the final 3:13 of the half -- when Arkansas guard Mason Jones was on the bench with two fouls -- to take a 33-30 halftime lead.

Jones scored a game-high 30 points, including nine before he picked up his second foul at the 6:54 mark of the first half when he was blocking out on a defensive rebounding attempt. He didn't play the rest of the half.

"It was very frustrating," Jones said of watching what turned out to be a decisive run by the Aggies. "I wanted to go back in the game, but Coach felt like it was better for me to make sure I didn't pick up another foul. So it was a coaching decision, and you've got to respect it."

Texas A&M 6-9 senior Josh Nebo capped the Aggies' scoring spurt with a put-back dunk after he stole the ball. It was Texas A&M's fourth offensive rebound of the possession.

"The end of the first half, that was an amazing boost," said Aggies senior guard Wendell Mitchell, who scored 25 points to match his career-high against Florida last season. "That's the most energy I've ever seen from my teammates."

The announced crowd of 8,443 was on its feet cheering for the Aggies.

"I think it's as lively as Reed Arena has been in my tenure here," said Buzz Williams, who is in his first season as Texas A&M's coach.

"They got some momentum," Jones said of the Aggies. "The crowd gave them good energy."

The Razorbacks had three turnovers in the final 2:47 of the first half and finished the half with eight turnovers -- more than they had in any of their previous three games for the entire 40 minutes, and matching the eight they had against Missouri four games ago.

"We knew going into the last four minutes of the first half we had to hold them back," Joe said. "We had to win the last four minutes, and didn't stay true to our game. That's when it got away from us.

"We had turnover after turnover, and we weren't getting back on defense. That's how they got ahead."

Arkansas had 16 turnovers -- its most in a 12-game span since having 16 in a 79-77 loss to South Carolina on Jan. 29 -- after having a season-low five in its 99-90 victory over LSU on Wednesday.

Many of the Razorbacks' turnovers came against the Aggies' three-quarters pressure defense.

"Their press really was just to slow us down, so we had no reason to turn it over," said Joe, who had three turnovers. "They just wanted us to eat up more clock before we got the ball over half court, but we couldn't even do that.

"They had us sped up and out of our element. We weren't able to keep our composure."

Jones had four turnovers.

"We were just careless with the ball," Jones said. "They had a little pressure that gave us problems. We've just got to get better and get ready for Wednesday against Vanderbilt."

Mitchell hit 8 of 13 shots, including 5 of 10 three-pointers.

"I thought Wendell was awesome," Musselman said.

While Mitchell hurt the Razorbacks from the perimeter, Nebo dominated inside with 20 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots.

"We didn't have anybody that could stop him," Musselman said.

Nebo hit 9 of 15 shots.

"Nebo had a great game," Joe said. "He's very solid down there. We knew if he got the ball in his hands in the lane, it would be trouble.

"We tried our best to front him, and we weren't able to do it all the time. Ethan [Henderson] was able to get a couple of blocks on him, but our game plan was to front him and not let him get the ball, and we didn't stay true to that."

Texas A&M outrebounded Arkansas 41-25, and had 15 offensive rebounds to 5 for the Razorbacks.

"Our rebounding just kind of overwhelmed them," Mitchell said.

Jones, Joe and senior guard Jimmy Whitt combined for 62 points. Joe scored 22 points and Whitt 10.

"We had three guys that played pretty well," Musselman said. "Not much else."

The Aggies were called for 15 fouls compared to 29 fouls for the Razorbacks, and Texas A&M hit 19 of 31 free throws to 11 of 15 for Arkansas.

"I thought the free throws attempted were a big part of the game, and the personal fouls," said Musselman, who was called for a technical foul with 2:51 left. "We're not a deep team, and we had a lot of guys foul out."

Game sketch

RECORDS Arkansas 19-12, 7-11 SEC; Texas A&M 16-14, 10-8

STARS Texas A&M senior guard Wendell Mitchell (25 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists) and senior forward Josh Nebo (20 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocked shots). Arkansas junior guard Mason Jones (30 points, 2 steals)

KEY STAT The Aggies outscored the Razorbacks 32-10 on points in the paint. UP NEXT Arkansas plays Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

Sports on 03/08/2020