The No. 21 Texas A&M men’s basketball team went into Fayetteville, Arkansas on Feb. 17 looking to get back into the win column after a loss to Missouri snapped their four-game win streak. The Aggies instead fell to the Arkansas Razorbacks 94-75, the most points Texas A&M has allowed this season.
With the loss, the Aggies drop to a 17-10 season record and 6-8 in conference play.
Sophomore forward Robert Williams recorded a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Junior guard Admon Gilder also had 20 points, notching half of Texas A&M’s total three-pointers.
The Aggies fell behind early after three consecutive Arkansas three-pointers in the first four minutes of the game. Texas A&M went 11-of-26 shooting and were 0-of-7 in three-pointers in the first half.
Texas A&M’s scoring troubles continued throughout the rest of the game, with an overall shooting percentage of 43.6 compared to Arkansas’s 49.3. The Aggies were 24-of-55 shooting. The Razorbacks also outscored the Aggies in three-pointers, with a 43 percent success rate compared to Texas A&M’s 24 percent.
At the end of the first half, the Razorbacks had outscored Texas A&M 43-32. Ten of the Aggies’ total first half points came from free throws.
Junior Tyler Davis led the Aggies in the first half with 12 points. Williams followed closely with 10 points. Gilder and freshman guard TJ Starks were the only other Aggies to add points in the half with six and four respectively.
The second half looked slightly better for the maroon and white, who improved to a 44.8 shooting percentage from the first half’s 42.3 percent. The Aggies also had a 76.5 success rate in free throws, going 13-of-17.
Gilder opened up the second half with the Aggies’ first three-pointer of the game. Another soon followed for the Dallas native.
Gilder’s two three-pointers early in the second half placed Texas A&M within eight points, but the Aggies couldn’t capitalize and allowed Arkansas to widen that lead to double digits with two free throws. The scoring margin remained at double digits throughout the rest of the half.
The Aggies tried to pull together a rallying effort at the bottom of the second half, with help from two three-pointers by freshman Savion Flagg and junior Chris Collins, but the Razorbacks shut down the effort with a seven-point run to end the game.
With half a minute left, the Razorbacks notched the largest scoring margin of the game to pull away to a 19-point lead.
The Aggies return to Reed Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 20 to face Mississippi State at 6 p.m.
