GAME STORY: Arkansas gaffes too costly in 69-61 road loss to No. 8 Texas A&M

By Kevin McPherson

Still on the NCAA Tournament Bubble but finally projected back in the Big Dance as a fringe at-large-bid qualifier, Arkansas was looking to win its third consecutive Quad-1 road game on Saturday to continue its late-season surge while bolstering its postseason resume, but the gaffe-riddled Razorbacks failed in that endeavor as No. 8 Texas A&M took advantage of an avalanche of Hog miscues to hold serve at home, 69-61, in College Station, Texas.

The Razorbacks stayed close throughout by keeping pace with the nation’s best offensive rebounding / second-chance-points team — the game was tied at 50-all with 9:24 to play — but down the stretch A&M made better game-critical decisions with better execution, outscoring Arkansas 19-11 to secure the win. From early on until the end, the Hogs could not steer clear of self-inflicted wounds in the way of mounting turnovers (many unforced) as the Aggies dominated the giveaway game with a plus-7 edge in turnovers (17-10) that resulted in a massive plus-15 advantage in points-off-turnovers (22-7).

Compounding matters, the Hogs got their worst game collectively from their top three scorers on the season — Adou Thiero, DJ Wagner, and Johnell Davis — who combined for only 21 points on 7-of-25 field goal shooting, including 2-of-11 from 3, and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. The trio combined for 10 of the team’s 17 turnovers.

Arkansas (15-10, 4-8 SEC, NCAA NET No. 41) had won 4 of its previous 6 games before falling at A&M on Saturday. Included in that successful stretch were back-to-back Q1 road victories — over Texas, 78-70, on Feb. 5, and over then-No. 12 Kentucky, 89-79, on Feb. 1.

“Some (turnovers) were more like, what did you just do?” Arkansas head coach John Calipari asked rhetorcically while explaining his team’s problems with ball security. “And we haven’t done that all year. Just give credit to A&M, they played and pressured and did stuff to make us turn it over. We had one rule going into this game. If you drive baseline, shoot the ball. Shoot it. What we’d do? Turn it over. Didn’t shoot it. We had one rule. You go baseline, I’d rather you shoot it because three things can happen. One (is a score). Two, you miss it, because they’re running, you rebound it. Three, they rebound it. Fine. A breakout turnover, they score on. I don’t know if guys were timid, didn’t want to shoot it, missed every shot so stopped shooting it, I don’t know.

“We had a great heart-to-heart in there (post-game talk). We just did. I had them come in the other locker room, like we have some guys that have got to play better. Can they put it on minutes? ‘I’m afraid I’m going to come out’, can they say that? Come on, say no. Because you’re playing them 35 minutes. Can you say, ‘Well, I’m afraid I’m going to come out if I make a mistake?’ Not if you’re playing 35 minutes. That one is off the table. So now, why are you tentative? Why do we have guys that — like again, we miss a couple layups again, which we didn’t miss 10 like we have other games. But we missed a couple that were kind of costly. But, you don’t have to make every open shot.” 

The Razorbacks have moved up from 15th-place in the SEC when they were 1-6 to now slotting at tied for No. 11 in the league with just six games remaining in the regular season.

The Hoop Hogs slipped to 4-6 away from home (that’s 3-4 in true road games, including a 2-4 mark in SEC road games, and 1-2 in neutral-site tilts). They’re 11-4 at home on the season (that’s 10-4 at BWA, including 2-4 in SEC home games, and 1-0 at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock).

The Razorbacks are now 3-8 in Quad-1 games (all three wins were earned in games played away from home against teams ranked Top 25 in NET). They’re also 1-2 in Q2, 4-0 in Q3, and 7-0 in Q4.

Arkansas was projected third among the “Last Four In” teams (a.k.a. play-in 11-seed NCAAT at-large-bid qualifier) in ESPN’s latest NCAA Tournament Bracketology update that was released on Friday.

It’s been a significant course-correction spanning the last several weeks that has revived Arkansas’ NCAAT at-large-bid hopes following the program’s unprecedented string of five straight losses to begin SEC play.

The loss to Texas A&M (20-5, 9-3 SEC, NCAA NET No. 12) dropped Arkansas to 108-62 in the all-time series between the two programs.

Next up for the Razorbacks is another road game on Wednesday, Feb. 19, when they’ll face No. 1 Auburn (8 p.m. CT, ESPN).

Aganist A&M, Arkansas shot 20-of-48 from the field (41.7%), including 7-of-21 from 3 (33.3%), and 14-of-19 from the free throw line (73.7%). A&M shot 24-of-57 overall from the field (42.1%), including 6-of-20 from 3 (30.0%), and 15-of-21 at the line (71.4%).

In addition to turnovers and points-off-turnovers, Arkansas lost points-in-the-paint (34-22), fastbreak points (10-4), bench scoring (25-10), and steals (11-7), but the Hogs did win blocks (8-4) while each team finished with 14 assists.

In the biggest area of concern for the Razorbacks coming into the game — rebounding, specifically the offensive boards that correlate to second-chance-points — Arkansas was competitive, finishing only minus-3 in total rebounds (35-32) and minus-4 in offensive rebounds (12-8) while actually winning second-chance-points with a plus-2 edge (9-7).

Freshman wing Karter Knox was by far Arkansas’ best option offensively, notching a team-high 17 points (7-of-9 field goals, including 3-of-4 from 3), 5 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, and only 1 turnover in 36 minutes. Sophomore center Zvonimir Ivisic continued his hot shooting — but on much lower volume than recent outings — as he pitched in 13 points (3-of-5 field goals, including 2-of-3 from 3, and 5-of-6 free throws), 6 rebounds, 4 blocks, 1 assist, and 1 turnover in 20 minutes. He’s totaled 65 points in the team’s last three contests.

Thiero managed to score 10 points, but was only 2-of-6 from the field, including 1-of-2 from 3. He did make 5-of-6 free throws to go with 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, and 3 turnovers in 31 minutes before fouling out late. Davis had his streak of consecutive double-figure scoring outings halted at five games as he finished with 7 points (3-of-13 field goals, including 1-of-7 from 3), 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist, 4 turnovers, and a boxscore plus-3 in 28 minutes. Wagner was limited to 4 points (2-of-6 field goals, including 0-of-2 from 2, and 0-of-1 free throw) to go with 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers in 28 minutes.

Freshman combo guard Billy Richmond III had 6 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 4 turnovers in 24 minutes. Senior center Jonas Aidoo has his most productive game in a month — 4 points (1-of-1 field goal and 2-of-4 free throws), 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block in 20 minutes. Junior forward Trevon Brazile missed his two field goals attempts — both from beyond the arc — as he did not score but did contribute 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block in 14 minutes.

“Karter played good, but you can’t miss every open shot,” Calipari said. “Karter played well, Jonas played well. I thought Billy played well, but he turned it over. But he fought and did pretty good. The reason I didn’t play Z more, if you were watching the game … he got scored on, got scored on, got scored on. He doesn’t block, so I’ve got to go with another guy. Jonas played well. Jonas played the way I needed him to play. The surgery set him back, but Jonas played. I may have to play both of those two together to get the offense, to figure out what we’re going to do defensively and how we’re going to play. It means Adou (Thiero) maybe takes a little more of a backseat.” 

The Aggies were led by veterans Wade Taylor IV (game-high 18 points, 9 assists, 3 steals, 5 turnovers, and boxscore plus-10 in 35 minutes) and Andersson Garcia (11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 turnover, and boxscore plus-27 in 25 minutes).

Calipari started Knox, Thiero, Wagner, Davis, and Ivisic for the fifth consecutive game.

Arkansas jumped out to an 8-0 lead after holding A&M to 0-of-7 field goal shooting while forcing 3 early turnovers, but the Aggies struck back with a 9-0 run to nab a narrow one-point edge and from there mostly maintained two- and one-possession leads before settling on a 33-28 advantage at the break.

Knox had 9 points (4-of-5 field goals, including 1-of-2 from 3), 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block to lead the Razorbacks in the first half. Davis and Wagner each picked up two fouls and sat for extended stretches of the first 20 minutes.

The Hogs shot 8-of-21 from the field (38.1%), including 3-of-9 from 3 (33.3%), and 9-of-12 from the free throw line (75.0%) in the opening half. A&M shot 10-of-27 overall from the field (37.0%), including 4-of-12 from 3 (33.3%) in the first half. The Aggies also hit 9-of-12 freebies (75.0%) in the first 20 minutes.

Arkansas lost turnovers (10-6), points-off-turnovers (11-5), points-in-the-paint (12-6), fastbreak points (6-2), rebounds (18-14, including 5-2 on the offensive glass), and second-chance-points (4-1) in the first half.