The Texas A&M men’s basketball team defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 77-69 for senior day on Saturday at Reed Arena to finish off the regular season with a 16-14 record.
Honored on senior day were guard Wendell Mitchell, guard Mark French and forward Josh Nebo.
Nebo said he could feel how special senior day was for all the seniors, especially with the result of the game.
“It was a special night,” Nebo said. “Come out with a win, at our last game at home.”
The Aggies scored the first points of the game with a three-pointer. However, the Razorbacks answered and the Aggies ended up trailing 28-21 with a little over three minutes remaining before halftime. A&M came back 33-30, ending the half. In order to get this lead, freshman forward Emanuel Miller made four free throws and Mitchell posted two layups.
A&M coach Buzz Williams said the team’s urgency at the end of the half is crucial heading into the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
“We have to play like that in order to have a chance to win,” Williams said. “It was good to go into the locker room with that as the end [of the half].”
Arkansas’ first year head coach Eric Musselman said he has not been happy with how his team consistently concludes the end of the first half.
“We haven’t been very good the last four minutes at the end of first halves,” Musselman told 12thman.com. “Tonight was another one of those nights.”
Despite Arkansas junior guard Mason Jones scoring 30 points, the Aggies outscored the Razorbacks 44-39 in the second half.
The Aggies never trailed after halftime, though the game remained close throughout the first nine minutes. After the 11:53 mark of the second half, Arkansas was only able to get within three once, as A&M kept at least a six-point lead until the end of the game.
A series of 11 free throws in the final seven minutes lifted the Aggies over Arkansas.
The Aggies were led by Miller’s 10 rebounds as they outrebounded the Razorbacks 26-9 in the first half, but were outrebounded 16-15 in the second.
Mitchell and Nebo played huge roles in their final games at Reed Arena, as Mitchell led the Aggies with 25 points and Nebo followed with 20.
The Aggies’ next game will be the second round in the SEC Tournament against Missouri at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.