Razorbacks May Get More from Making It Close Against A&M

For team looking to stop the bleeding pulling out narrow win could be jumpstart needed

Author:
Andy Hodges
Publish date:
Jan 17, 2024 5:58 PM EST

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas nearly turned a 20-point lead into a loss. By midway through the second half last night as Texas A&M inched closer and closer, fans were thinking they'd seen this movie play out too many times. Instead they got a win, which probably will pay bigger dividends.

The actual truth is, Tramon Mark may be just flat sick and tired of losing. No idea for sure what that actual number is on this Razorbacks' roster, but the majority haven't looked too concerned about it. It did appear to get everybody's attention. Don't call it ugly either.

"That was a pretty win," Eric Musselman said immediately after the game on the SEC Network and fuboTV. "Right now we just need a win of any type." That much is probably completely accurate. After three straight losses to start SEC play, the Hogs needed one any way he could get. Mark just made it a hold-your-breath last second.

Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman against Texas A&M

"We got the ball in the hands of who we needed to tonight," Musselman said after Mark's 35-point performance. "T-Mark was playing with such great confidence. We’ve got to go to the cup or at least get inside of that 12- to 14-foot range really."

Don't start with the mid-range jumper stuff. A lot of people criticize it, but to a non-nerd, that's a part of the game that's been ignored too long. Those points count, too, whether the fans want to get all worked about them or not. Dunks and three-pointers get way too much importance, especially dunking. That's never been particularly impressive to me. It's mostly of genetics and physics.

"All the analytics people talk about mid-range being a bad shot," Musselman said. "It’s been a really good shot for us at Arkansas. Jimmy Whitt, Ricky Council, T-Mark. It’s great shot for him, not a good shot. He’s a lethal pull-up jump shooter 12 to 17 feet." Like I keep saying, those points count at the end, too.

You can never predict a great night. Larry Bird may have been the last that could predict a 40 or 50-point night before games and still manage to pull it off. He may have been the last one with the guts to even say it.

"We felt like there were some areas on the floor that we could try to get him the ball," Musselman said about the game plan coming into the matchup with the Aggies. "Obviously, it was pretty evident from the start that we were trying to get him in certain matchups. I thought we did, they have two star players in my opinion. Radford, we couldn’t have done a better job. [Wade] Taylor, I mean what an incredible, incredible performance all the way across the board for him, but he did take 32 shots. He can get his own shot at will because he’s such a special player."

Razorbacks Eric Musselman directing team against Texas A&M — Arkansas Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman directs players on the floor in a game against the Texas A&M Aggies on Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.
Craven Whitlow / allHOGS Images

Now it appears the Razorbacks may have that special player in Mark. They haven't had anybody that wanted to take charge and Musselman has been desperately needing that. At least someone who had the ability to just take over. Mark did all that and more getting that last-second shot for a win.

It should give the Hogs some confidence and show them they can win. It actually was a matchup of two teams right there together with 10-7 records. Just a quick glance at that showed it probably would be a competitive game. Probably no one saw it having that kind of finish, though.