Fayetteville, Arkansas – Jaylin Williams hit a jumper with 13 seconds left in overtime – and the shot clock running out – for a 3-point lead then, after two Aggie free throws with five ticks left, Stanley Umude threw down a fastbreak dunk with 1.2 seconds remaining to give Arkansas a 76-73 victory over Texas A&M Saturday night at Bud Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks win their fourth straight and improve to 14-5 overall, 4-3 in the SEC. Texas A&M falls to 15-4, 4-2 in the SEC.
Williams finished this fourth double-double in five games while adding three assists, three blocked shots and a career-high six steals. JD Notae added 17 points with six rebounds, four assists and three steals (padding his SEC-leading average) before fouling out with 1:04 left in regulation. Umude added 15 pints, seven boards and three steals while Au’Diese Toney had 12 points and six boards.
The Razorbacks, the NCAA leader in both free throws made and attempts, continued its success at the line, going 21-of-25. Arkansas also forced 19 turnovers. But the difference came down to shooting in the overtime period. Arkansas made 4-of-5 shots from the field and 4-of-7 from the line while A&M was just 3-of-7 from the field and 2-of-2 at the line.
Arkansas raced out to a 20-4 lead to start the game. The Aggies battled back and trimmed the deficit to four (33-29) at halftime.
Texas A&M would trim its deficit to one three times in the second half, but Arkansas continued to hold the lead. In fact, Arkansas pushed its lead to 10 (51-41) with 11:19 to go. The Aggies went on a 15-5 run to tie the game, 56-56. The Razorbacks would not surrender the lead and went on a 6-0 run to lead 62-56 with 1:09 remaining. The Hogs also led by six with 58 ticks left before the Aggies made three free throws at 0:52 and Hassan Diarra drilled a game-tying 3-pointer with nine seconds left to force overtime.
The Aggies took their first lead, 66-64, on a Quenton Jackson layup with 44 seconds into the overtime period. Later Hasson made a layup to put the Aggies up 68-66. From that point, Arkansas got an old-fashion 3-point play from Davonte Davis with 2:31 left to put the Hogs up one, a lead it would not relinquish.
Up one after an A&M 3-pointer, Arkansas went up three on Williams’ jumper with 13 seconds left. Wade Taylor got the Aggies back to within one after making two free throws with five seconds left. Davis took the inbounds pass, out-ran the Aggie defensive and found an open Umude, who threw down his dunk to seal the 3-point win.
Aggie freshman Taylor led all scorers with 25 (8-of-14 FG, 5-of-8 3PT). However, he was 5-of-5 from the field and 3-of-3 from deep in the first half while going just 3-of-9 from the field and 2-of-5 from 3-point range in the second half and overtime combined. Jackson had 13 points and four blocked shots while Tyrese Radford added 11 rebounds.
Arkansas returns to the road to face Ole Miss on Wednesday (Jan. 26). Tipoff is set for 6 pm (CT) and the game will be on SEC Network. After Ole Miss, Arkansas will play three of its next four at home, including a Jan. 29 (Saturday) meeting with West Virginia as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.