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Eric Musselman, AuDiese Toney, Stanley Ubude A&M Postgame

Razorbacks Have No Defense for Big Loss to Aggies in Tournament

Hogs struggle on both ends in 82-64 loss to Texas A&M at SEC Tournament semifinals
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TAMPA, Fla. — Arkansas coach Eric Musselman knew there wasn't any defense.

"They totally out-played us," the Razorbacks' coach said after an 82-64 loss to Texas A&M knocked them out of an SEC Tournament title game appearance Sunday.

It wasn't just the defense. The offense didn't give them a chance, either.

The Hogs didn't have an answer to the Aggies' plan to take leading scorer JD Notae and Jaylin Williams out of the offense.

"That was not what Arkansas has been over the (last) two months," Musselman said later.

Eric Musselman-TAMU-SEC
Eric Musselman-TAMU-SEC
031222-Eric Musselman-TAMU-Kim Klement

Especially Notae, who picked up three fouls in the first half and spent 13 minutes of the game sitting on the bench. The result was just five points.

It wasn't just on offense, either.

"I can't remember JD's defense like that since we've been together," Musselman said. "It was both sides of the basketball."

JD Notae-TAMU-SEC

The Aggies came out firing from deep, making five three-pointers in the first half while holding the Razorbacks to just 1-for-9 from behind the arc.

The Hogs finished with just 3-of-18 on three-pointers. To save you the math, that's a 16.7% clip, bad even for this team that's not particularly good at shooting three's.

Maybe the biggest problem was they balanced that by not defending against A&M's three-point shooting. The Aggies hit 53.3% on three-pointers.

"When we don't guard the three that's what happens," Musselman said.

It was surprising they returned to early-season defense on that. The good news is they recovered to become one of the best in the country stopping teams from just gunning away from deep.

After a disappointing first half where the Hogs trailed 36-24, Notae only had two points, three fouls and you knew there was going to be a problem.

It didn't exactly improve in the second half with Notae scoring just three more to finish with five total in the game. Combine Williams' four and the pair scored just nine.

When Notae and Williams don't combine for double figures it's usually a long night for the Hogs.

The Hogs started the second half strong, outscoring Texas A&M 12-5 after an old-fashioned three-point play by Davonte Davis.

Texas A&M answered with a 6-0 run to regain an 11-point lead (47-36). Stanley Umude made a pair of three’s for an 8-0 run to cut the Razorback deficit to three (47-44) with 11:57 left but the Aggies were too much down the stretch to advance to tomorrow’s final.

Umude led the Razorbacks with 20 points with Au’Diese Toney adding 18 points to run his total to 40 points in two games in the SEC Tournament.

Trey Wade-TAMU-SEC
Au'Diese Toney-TAMU-SEC
031222-JD Notae-TAMU-Kim Klement-5
Au'Diese Toney-TAMU-SEC

"We didn't guard like we're capable of and we didn't share the ball like we should be capable of," Musselman said.

Arkansas will find out its seeding for the NCAA Tournament tomorrow during the NCAA Selection Show on CBS at 5 p.m. (CT).

But he's not sitting around waiting on that until he knows who to prepare the Hogs to face next week.

"Right now I'm worried about the holes in this game," he said. "I'll do our post-game reports and get film to guys individually. There will be a lot of it, because we have to get better. That's not how we want to play.

"I'm not brushing this under (the rug) and crumbling up the stat sheet and saying, 'Well, tomorrow we get to see who we're playing against and we'll get ready for the NCAA tournament tonight.' No. We have to dissect this game."

FIRST HALF: Texas A&M 36, Arkansas: 24

• Defense ruled the game early, neither team scored until 17:34 and the score was just 6-2 at the first media timeout (15:49). A&M was just 2-of-8 from the field early and Arkansas was just 1-of-7.

• Texas A&M warmed up from 3-point range (finishing 6-of-11) and took a 36-24 lead at halftime. The Hogs were just 1-of-9 from 3-point range in the perio8d.

• Umude led Arkansas with nine first-half points.

SECOND HALF: Arkansas: 40, Texas A&M: 40

• Umude made a pair of three’s for a n 8-0 run and cut the Razorback deficit to three (47-44) with 11:57 left.

• Later, Umude made 3 free throws and Arkansas trailed by five (52-47) with 11:02 to play.

• The Aggies answered with an 18-5 run over the next 4:16 to put the game out of reach.

• Arkansas shot 48% from the field in the second half, but A&M shot 58.1% from the field.

Arkansas guard Davonte Davis loses control of the ball while working against Texas A&M guard Quenton Jackson.
Jaylin Williams-TAMU-SEC
Chris Lykes-TAMU-SEC
Davonte Davis-TAMU-SEC
Davonte Davis-TAMU-SEC

GAME NOTES

• Arkansas’ starting lineup was Notae, Toney, Umude, Trey Wade and Williams for the 16th game (14-2).

• Arkansas won the opening tip.

• A&M’s Tyrece Radford scored the game’s first points, a 3-pointer at 17:34. Au’Diese Toney scored the first points for the Razorbacks, a layup at 16:34.

• Chris Lykes was the first Razorback sub.

• Notae converted an old-fashion three-point play at 19:35 of the second half to score his 1,000th point as a Razorback. He became the 45th player to score 1,000 points in a Razorback uniform. He is the sixth Razorback to accomplish the feat in two seasons joining Mason Jones (1,146), Jaylen Barford (1,087), Daryl Macon (1,070), Bobby Portis (1,047) and Dusty Hannahs (1.047).

• However, Notae only scored five points to mark the first time this season he finished a game in single digits. He did add five assists.

Stanley Umude-TAMU-SEC
Au-Diese Toney-TAMU-SEC
JD Notae-TAMU-SEC
Au'Diese Toney-TAMU-SEC

• Arkansas reached its 17th SEC Tournament semifinal and second straight. The Razorbacks are now 7-9 in the SEC Tourney semis.

• This was the first time Arkansas and Texas A&M had even met in the SEC Tournament. However, the teams played five times in the Southwest Conference postseason tournament (1976-1991). A&M won the first meeting, and the Hogs won the last four.

• Arkansas is 29-29 all-time in SEC Tournament games.

• This was just the second time this season Arkansas lost when having two days or fewer to prepare for a game. The Hogs are 11-2 this season in such games, including a win over Cincinnati to win the Hall of Fame Classic earlier this season.

• Jaylin Williams had a team-best nine rebounds to give him 317 to date this season. He moves to fourth on the school’s single-season list. He is four shy of third and five shy of second. Derek Hood holds the mark with 349.

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