Mark’s game-winning runner beats buzzer as Arkansas snaps 3-game skid with dramatic 78-77 win over Texas A&M at BWA

By Kevin McPherson

Junior wing Tramon Mark capped off his career-high 35-point scoring night by beating the buzzer with a game-winning runner as the Arkansas Razorbacks at least temporarily put an end to their annual free-fall to start SEC play with their first league win in four tries, 78-77, over visiting Texas A&M on Tuesday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

Arkansas led by as many as 20 points in the first half and its advantage was by 14 points at halftime, but in a game that devolved into a defensive, foul-fest grinder it was Mark and preseason SEC Player of the Year pick Wade Taylor IV of Texas A&M who effectively went mano a mano for most of the scoring production in the final 20 minutes of a contest that was decided in dramatic fashion.

Arkansas led by 10 points, 73-63, on a Mark drive-and-one conversion with 3:43 to play, and the Hogs were ahead 73-65 when Taylor struck for a quick 5-0 run on 2-of-2 free throws followed by an off-balance three-pointer that pulled the Aggies within 73-70. Sandwiched around two made Aggie free throws and a Taylor driving layup, Mark was fouled on three different possessions (between 1:25 and 14.6 seconds left in the game) but managed only 3-of-6 fee throw shooting in that stretch, leaving the Hogs with only a 76-74 lead.

That’s when Taylor — he scored a career-high 41 points — drained a falling-down three-pointer with 7.8 seconds remaining to give the Aggies their first lead of the night, 77-76, but after a timeout the Hogs inbounded the ball to Mark who quickly but calmly pushed the ball up court before driving his way into the teeth of the Aggies’ defense for a lefty 10-foot runner that put Arkansas ahead, 78-77, with 1.1 seconds left in the game. The Aggies mishandled the ensuing inbounds pass while failing to get off a desperation heave at the buzzer.

“Coach (Eric Musselman) drew it up and I just went out and executed,” Mark said of his game-winner. “I saw how they were playing me. I thought they were going to play me tighter but they just kind of let me get a full head of steam, so I just went and I got a good look.

“When Wade Taylor hit that three-ball to go up one, I was a little nervous then. It was four minutes left when we were up 10 so I was like I don’t know how this happened but I’m just glad my dudes were fighting with me, first half and second half. We were able to pull out the win.”

Musselman, in his fifth season as Arkansas’ head coach, said it was important that the final play run through Mark for a paint-and-rim-pressure look and not a deep perimeter shot.

“We spaced the floor out,” Musselman explained. “Luckily we were able to get organized, because we were out of timeouts. And we were able to set up a little bit of press break. Even though they matched up straight man, there was no press as there had been, so to speak. We got the ball in the hands of who we needed to tonight, because T-Mark was playing with such great confidence. And then we just spaced out. We had Davenport in one corner. We had El Ellis in the other corner. We had TB trailing as the inbounder and then we had Menifield on the 45-degree angle on the left side.

“Just said, ‘There’s no way we’re taking a three. We’ve got to go to the cup or at least get inside of that 12- to 14-foot range really.’ I know that all the analytics people talk about mid-range being a bad shot. 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. Look, he had 35 points on 15 field goals attempted. Our guys did a great job of finding him. Even his two threes, I know they were off spot-up assists.”

The Hoop Hogs (10-7, 1-3 SEC, NCAA NET No. 113) snapped their three-game losing skid while picking up their first Quad-2 win of the season. Arkansas is now 8-2 in games played on its home court at BWA, which includes a 1-1 mark in SEC games. The Hogs’ NET resume includes a 1-5 mark in Q1 games, 1-1 in Q2, 3-1 in Q3, and 5-0 in Q4.

Coming off back-to-back-to-back losses to open up league play by a combined losing margin of 64 points, the Razorbacks avoided falling to 0-4 in the SEC which would have established their worst start in league games since John Pelphrey’s 2008-09 Arkansas team that finished a program-worst 2-14 in conference play.

Arkansas shot better than 53% from the field (including 5-of-10 from 3) on 8 assists in the first half, but the offense bogged down in the second half as the Razorbacks finished the game shooting only 20-of-51 from the field (39.2%), including 7-of-19 from 3 (36.8%), on 10 total assists. Arkansas had a big night at the free throw line, making 31-of-40 freebies (77.5%).

Defensively, the Hogs held A&M to 24-of-74 field goal shooting (32.4%), including 6-of-29 from 3 (20.7), on only 5 assists. The Aggies made 23-of-33 free throws (69.7%).

Aside from blocked shots — Arkansas not only had a 9-3 advantage in erasers, but several came at critical junctures during A&M’s second-half comeback — it was the Aggies who dominated most of the hustle and blue-collar stats: Total rebounds (47-35), offensive rebounds (19-3), second-chance-points (25-9), turnovers (8-2), steals (5-1), poinst-off-turnovers (12-1), fastbreak points (16-4), and points-in-the-paint (28-22).

Mark made 8-of-15 field goals, including 2-of-3 from 3, and 17-of-22 free throws for his 35 points, which topped his previous career-high of 34 points scored against North Carolina in November. He also had 5 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 3 turnovers while playing all 40 minutes of the game. Senior guard El Ellis got the start and responded with his first double-figure scoring game since Nov. 17 as he contributed 15 points (including 8-of-8 free throw shooting), a team-high-matching 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 turnovers in 31 minutes. Sophomore forward Trevon Brazile (8 points, 5 rebounds, and 1 block); senior wing Jeremiah Davenport (8 points, 1 rebound, and 1 block); senior guard Davonte “Devo” Davis (7 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and 0 turnovers in 33 minutes); and senior forward / center Chandler Lawson (2 points, 5 rebounds, game-high 4 assists, and 1 block) all made significant contributions to the win.

The Hogs won for only the second time in their last five outings against the Aggies (10-7, 1-3 SEC, NCAA NET No. 41), but Arkansas has now won its last five home games against A&M as the Razorbacks moved to 107-61 in the all-time series. Taylor shot only 13-of-32 from the field, including 5-of-14 from 3, and he made 10-of-13 at the foul line for his 41 points to go with 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Anderss Garcia had a double-double — 10 points and 12 rebounds — for A&M. Big man Henry Coleman III (12 points and 8 rebounds per game) did not play.

“I think confidence-wise we needed (the win) for sure,” Musselman said. “It’s one game, it’s over. Up there is South Carolina’s depth chart right now. I can’t wait to get home and start digging into South Carolina. They’ve had an incredible season so far. I think even myself, you win a game it puts some extra juice in you, you know. It’s on to South Carolina and we’ll see what happens on Saturday.”

Musselman improved to 105-49 overall as Head Hog, which includes a 46-36 mark against SEC foes and a 59-13 record against non-conference opponents (all three marks include postseason results).

Next up for Arkansas is another home game at BWA as the Hoop Hogs will play host to South Carolina at noon CT on Saturday, Jan. 20 (SEC Network).

Against Texas A&M on Tuesday, Musselman started the quintet of Ellis, Davis, Brazile, Lawson, and Mark.

Arkansas sprinted out to a 17-3 lead as Mark, Brazile, and Davis each scored 4 points in the run while Lawson authored 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists in the same span. The Razorbacks would lead by as many as 20 points in the opening half before settling on a 46-32 advantage at the break.

Mark (16 points and 3 rebounds) led the first-half production for the Hogs.

Arkansas had 8 first-half assists for 14-of-26 field goal shooting (53.8%), including 5-of-10 from 3 (50%). The Hogs were a sizzling 13-of-14 at the free throw line (92.9%) in the opening half.

Defensively, the Hogs yielded only 11-of-37 field goal shooting (29.7%) to the Aggies in the first half, including a dismal 1-of-15 from 3 (6.7%). A&M shot 9-of-12 at the free throw line (75%) in the first 20 minutes.