Arkansas Football Can Gain from Win Over Aggies

Mark's buzzer beater to beat A&M was break Pittman needed for Junior Day

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Jan 17, 2024 9:57 AM EST

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Arkansas coach Sam Pittman got exactly what he needed to get the Razorbacks going in a positive direction Tuesday night with a last second shot from Razorbacks' guard Tramon Mark to take downTexas A&M.

No, that's not a typo. Pittman, whose seat is still somewhat warm after how things finished up last season, got exactly what he needed from the Hogs' basketball team. The last thing he could have afforded was another demoralizing loss.

It would have been hard to ask fans to suck it up for the good of the overall Arkansas program and show up for Saturday's game against South Carolina had Eric Musselman's team fallen to 0-3 in the SEC. With a little energy in the air following that dramatic running jumper to snatch victory from the jaws of six seconds worth of defeat, that's exactly what Pittman will need to do.

Arkansas is hosting Junior Day for interested football players Saturday, and, often, when it just so happens a basketball game falls at a convenient time, coaches will bring players to the game to get a feel for how invested fans are in the athletics program, especially if the basketball team is good.

Over the years, Musselman's teams have been the perfect candidate to sell players on how crazy Razorbacks fans can get, so if the football team could squeeze a few recruits in there, it was in the best interest. However, had Arkansas put together another double-digit loss Tuesday night, Saturday's game against South Carolina would have held as much potential value as the football team provided Musselman late in the season. The place would have been a ghost town outside of a few die-hards and a handful of Bitter Bills.

Now, there's no guarantee Pittman plans to bring Saturday's attendees to Bud Walton. After the first half of January, if that had been penciled in, it very well could have been erased. Still, that's not a risk Razorback fans can take by not showing up.

There's a better than zero chance that after the win over Texas A&M last night, Pittman will want to bring visitors in for at minimum the first half. At the very least, he may have his staff play it by ear and see whether Arkansas fans decided to show up. He could then audible based on the feel of things.

Now, there will be fans who aren't sold despite the emotional win. After all, the Aggies had to play about as bad as that team is capable, the referees had to send Arkansas to the line an insane amount of times, and Mark had to have the game of his life with 35 points to get the win. Plus, a lot of people are still put off by the sheer lack of effort shown in 2024. They were publicly embarrassed by the players and aren't exactly ready to forgive and forget just because the Razorbacks were able to squeeze out two more points after blowing a 20-point lead.

Still, Arkansas fans are good at seeing the big picture. If Pittman needs them to pack the place out so he can land an offensive lineman or quarterback of the future, they're typically willing to put feelings aside and go lose their minds for a couple of hours.

As much as Pittman doesn't like social media, it's in his best interest to use it for the greater good if he's planning on making Arkansas basketball part of the Junior Day experience. It could be something as simple as "Gonna catch a little Razorback basketball Saturday and bringing 10-15 good friends with me. Looking forward to them getting to see the Hog is strong."

That's all he would need to load up the joint and have fans frothing. It just takes communication. A nice announcement welcoming Pittman as he leads a line of prospects down through the lower bowl of Bud Walton would be all the spark required if the table were set correctly.

The Arkansas coach got the win he needed Tuesday. Now it's up to him to do what must be done to get the win he wants Saturday. He only has to do two things – ask and show up. Razorbacks fans will do the rest.