Razorbacks beat Aggies 76-73 in overtime thriller

Hogs rolling in conference play with fourth straight win

arkansasrazorbacks.com The Arkansas Razorbacks secured a 76-73 overtime win over the Texas A& M Aggies (15-4, 4-2 SEC) to move to 14-5 on the season. The Hogs have now won four straight SEC games after an 0-3 start to conference play. Jaylin Williams put together an outstanding all-around game for the Razorbacks with 14 points, 11 rebounds, six steals, three assists and three blocks.

Stanley Umude added 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and a seasonhigh three steals in the win. Hassan Diarra hit a threepoint shot for the Aggies with nine seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 64 and send it to overtime. The Aggies took their first lead of the game during the overtime period, but the Hogs went on an 6-0 run to get back in front for good. The Razorbacks played the overtime period without JD Notae -the leading scorer in the SEC – but found enough offense to get the job done.

“We all know he’s the leading scorer in the league,” Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said. “You don’t have to watch us too long to know we run a lot of things through him and with him. Didn’t particularly have good play in regulation behind him, and so when it went into overtime it was, ‘Hey, forget anything that happened in the first 40 minutes and we’ve got five minutes to play, and the one thing we’ve got to hang our hat on is we’ve got to defend at the same level we have been,’ because we’re defending at a level that’s really elite right now. I knew offensively it might not look pretty, but I thought defensively we were pretty doggone good for an entire game and in overtime as well.”

The Razorbacks have played much better defense during the win streak, and that trend continued against the Aggies. After allowing 86 points in a loss against Texas A& M just two weeks ago, Arkansas held the Aggies to just 37.1% shooting and forced 19 turnovers.

Au’Diese Toney got the scoring going for the Hogs with a floater on the game’s first possession.

Trey Wade and Notae each knocked down a three-

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Photo courtesy of the Arkansas Razorbacks LADY RAZORBACKS (cont.)

in with 18 points each.

The Razorbacks scored well in the first frame, totaling 21 points, but their defense was suffocating in the opening period, holding the Tide to just 11 points.

Arkansas held Alabama to just 25 percent shooting in the frame, and forced six Alabama turnovers.

The Razorbacks would go into halftime up 44-27, with a chance to put the game away in the third quarter.

Head Coach Mike Neighbors’ squad did just that, using a 14-5 spurt at the end of the third quarter to put this game to bed early. Erynn Barnum, who saw game action for the first time since she was injured against Cal all the way back on December 5, helped the Razorbacks keep the pedal down, as she scored six points in the third.

Spencer’s 18 points was a career best for her. So were her four made threes.

Ramirez’s seven assists in the game matched her career-high. Jersey Wolfenbarger got into double- figures, going for 12 points. Sasha Goforth also returned to double-figures, her third time doing so in five SEC games.

The Razorbacks return to Bud Walton Arena on Sunday afternoon, where they will take on Mississippi State. That game is set to tip at 3 p.m.

CT, and will air on SEC Network.