Fayetteville—In a historic Tuesday night game at Bud Walton Arena, Arkansas overcame Texas A&M 78-77 on a basket by Tramon Mark with 1.1 seconds left.
Mark, who finished with a career-high 35 points, got the ball rolling and shot over Texas A&M defender Jace Carter just seconds after Wade Taylor’s three-pointer gave the Aggies their first lead. Taylor led all scorers with 41 points.
After Mark’s make, the Aggies mishandled the inbounds pass and failed to get a shot off before the buzzer.
Mark stated, “Coach drew it up and I just went out there and executed.” “I assumed they would play me tighter after observing how they were handling me, but instead, they essentially let me bring the ball up and build momentum. I went and took a decent look.
SEC-leading Arkansas (10-7, 1-3) ended a three-game losing run. The average difference between the Razorbacks’ first three SEC losses was 21.3 points.
With 3:43 remaining, Texas A&M (10-7, 1-3) fell behind 73-63 after trailing by as many as 20 points in the first half.
Wade finished with ten points in the last seconds. With 50.8 seconds left, his layup knotted the score for the first time since
In the last 27.8 seconds, Mark missed two of his four free throw attempts, giving Texas A&M a chance, but he made up for the mistakes in the crucial situation by making one. He was 17 of 22 at the free-throw line and 8 of 15 from the field.
Eric Musselman, the coach of Arkansas, stated, “We got the ball in the hands of who we needed to tonight because T-Mark was playing with such great confidence.” Then we simply stopped talking. [Jeremiah] Davenport was in one corner, El Ellis was in the other, Trevon Brazile was behind as the inbounder, and [Keyon] Menifield was on the left side at a 45-degree angle.
We just stated that there’s no way we’re
Out of 40 attempts, the Razorbacks made 31 free throws. The game took two hours and forty minutes to finish, with 73 free throw attempts and 50 personal fouls between the two sides.
Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said, “We struggled to defend without fouling,” during the team’s radio post-game program. “Forty free throws is a lot, and when one player shoots over half of those, that’s a lot.”
Before the Aggies took their first shot more than five and a half minutes into the game, Arkansas was ahead 8-1. Texas A&M shot a dismal 14 straight three-pointers in the first half of the game.
At the break, the Razorbacks were ahead 46–32.
With 13:10 seconds left, Taylor’s three-point shot put Texas A&M within 50-46. The Aggies started the second half on a 14-4 run.
At 9:24 remaining, Solomon Washington made a three-pointer to trim Arkansas’ lead to 60-57, but the Razorbacks rallied for a 10-3 run that restored the double-digit lead. The Aggies then put on a flurry to end the game.
“I really appreciate the togetherness and the fight that we showed,” Williams stated. “We just dug a big hole at the start.”
With Mark’s performance against Kentucky in February 2022, the Arkansas player became the first to score 30 points or more in an SEC game since J.D. Notae. When Mark departed the game late in the second half on a stretcher due to a back injury during the Battle 4 Atlantis on November 24, he had already surpassed his previous career best of 34 points.
In a rivalry that has been played 168 times and stretches back to Arkansas’ inaugural season one hundred years ago, the Razorbacks have scored thirty points or more in twelve of those games versus the Aggies. Mark joined Mason Jones in 2020 and Notae in 2022 as the only other players to accomplish so versus Texas A&M in the previous five seasons.
The Reasons Arkansas Won
After struggling to finish out the Aggies, the Razorbacks finally got off to a strong start.
For the first time in weeks, El Ellis gave Arkansas a strong performance, while Tramon Mark demonstrated his ability to score. In addition, the Razorbacks outscored the Aggies 31–23 at the free-throw line and shot better than their season average.
The Reason Texas A&M Fell
The Aggies’ dismal shooting start proved too much to overcome. Before the break, they were 1 of 15 from three-point range and 11 of 38 overall.
Additionally, Texas A&M committed 26 personal fouls, leading to 40 Arkansas free throws. In the second half, sixteen fouls were called.
Player of the Sequence
Wade Taylor carried the Aggies with him and almost rallied them from a 20-point hole.
The SEC preseason player of the year scored 31 points against Kentucky three days before his 41-point performance. He was 10 of 13 from the free-throw line and hit 13 of 32 shots overall, including 5 of 14 three-point tries.
In an SEC game, his 32 attempts were the most made by an Arkansas opponent. He almost broke the venue record for most points scored by a rival. Jodie Meeks of Kentucky scored 45 against Arkansas in 2009.
Not to Know
Since the Aggies entered the SEC, Arkansas has defeated Texas A&M on its home floor.
The Razorbacks defeated Texas A&M for the sixth time in a row to raise their record to 10-1 in SEC home games.
In their history as rivals in the Southwest Conference, the Aggies have suffered 15 straight losses at Fayetteville.
Not Coleman
Texas A&M did not field 6-8 senior big Henry Coleman, who averages 11.9 points and 8 rebounds.
Early in the second half of the Aggies’ 97-92 victory against Kentucky last Saturday, Coleman seemed to sustain a lower-body injury. Against the Wildcats, he played 22 minutes and was limited to 4 points and 2 rebounds.
Against Arkansas, Coleman finished the previous season with 41 points and 31 rebounds in three games. In two of the games he played against the Razorbacks, he recorded double-doubles: in an 81-70 defeat at Bud Walton Arena, he had 18 points and 15 rebounds, and in an SEC Tournament triumph, he had 16 points and 11 rebounds.
Ellis gets going
El Ellis, a guard from Arkansas, had his eighth start, but it was his first since a game against Abilene Christian on December 21.
In 31 minutes, Ellis finished with 15 points on 3 of 11 shots, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. He was 8 for 8 on his free-throw attempts.
His 31 minutes were the longest he had played since he had played 33 during a game against Old Dominion on November 13 of last season. In the Razorbacks’ first three SEC games, Ellis played a total of 10 minutes, and it was the most he has played since he played 11 in a Dec. 4 victory over Furman.
Texas A&M, the top rebounding team in the country, outscored Arkansas 19-3 on the offensive glass as part of a 47-35 advantage on the boards.
The Aggies’ second-chance point advantage of 25–9 was crucial to their comeback in the second half. Of all the players, Andersson Garcia had the most rebounds (12).
Alterations in Clothes
At halftime, Buzz Williams, the dapper Texas A&M coach, broke out of his trademark three-piece suit.
Williams had on a sweatshirt and a white undershirt when he returned to the floor for the second half. He seemed to have switched spectacles as well.
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