The Texas A&M men’s basketball team finally met its turnover goal — only giving away the ball 12 times — but the Aggies’ latest bug came from their inability to make a field goal in the final seven minutes of Tuesday’s game against Arkansas. The Aggies shot 48 percent from the field in the second half, but missed their final six attempts, dooming their chances of earning a needed win over the Razorbacks.
“Another missed opportunity with finishing games off and making tough plays when we had to. We’re not very disciplined offensively when we needed to be,” said Texas A&M head coach Billy Kennedy. “We played like an immature, undisciplined team and that’s my fault. It’s my responsibility.”
Admon Gilder heaved a desperate three-point attempt at the buzzer, but there was too much heat on the shot that bounced off the backboard, sealing the Razorbacks’ (14-4, 3-3 SEC) 62-60 win over the Aggies (9-8, 1-5 SEC).
“We’re just a little undisciplined at the wrong times and it shows and it hurts us,” sophomore Tyler Davis said. “This game felt a lot better. I felt like we took care of the ball more, but we still have work to do.”
On “Throw Back Night,” Arkansas went old-school in the final 20 minutes of the game by dialing up their full-court press that truly gave A&M 40 minutes of hell — which the Aggies could not preserve through.
“The difference in the game was our defense,” said Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson. “I thought our defense was good all the way through, especially in the second half.”
A&M was on fire to begin the second half, making six of its first eight shots to build a 48-36 lead with 12:40 remaining in the game — the Aggies’ largest lead of the game which forced Anderson to call timeout. Dusty Hannahs drained a three-pointer on the next Razorback possession, however, and the race was on.
As they did in the first half, the Razorbacks climbed their way back and the Aggies hit a cold spell with Arkansas pulling within 54-50 with 7:26 to go. Arkansas continued to tune in, while A&M continued to fade, cashing in on a string of Aggie turnovers to take a 57-56 lead — an advantage the Razorbacks never relinquished for the remainder of the game.
“We lost the game during the stretch where we were up eight to 10 [points] and they got some second-chance points,” Kennedy said. “We had eight turnovers in the second half and those led to transition points.”
Despite shooting just 31 percent from the field in the first half, the Aggies had held onto a tight 32-30 lead at the intermission, in large part due to limiting the number of turnovers in the first half to four.
A&M turned the ball over on its first two possessions of the game and after an Arkansas three-pointer, things weren’t looking good for the Aggies to begin the night. A&M responded soundly, however, piercing through the Razorback defense and using a 15-2 run to jump out to a 15-5 lead at the 12:38 mark of the first half.
The Razorbacks tusked their way back, as the Aggies went ice-cold shooting and Arkansas made five of six straight shots to retake a slim 20-19 lead with 5:57 remaining in the period. The Aggies went on a 10-2 run to stretch out a 31-24 advantage with 1:54 to go, but the Razorbacks closed the half on a quick 6-1 mark that trimmed A&M’s halftime lead to just two.
A&M’s loss cuts the Aggies’ NCAA Tournament hopes down even further, but Davis said it won’t stop the team from working toward its goal of making the Big Dance.
“We’re going to keep working,” Davis concluded. “The season’s still got games left so we’ve got work to do.”
The Aggies return to the hardwood Saturday when they host Georgia. Tip-off is set for 11 a.m. and the game will be aired on ESPN2.
