The Arkansas Razorbacks (15-7, 4-5) handed the Texas A&M Aggies (15-7, 7-2) just their second loss of SEC play in a 81-70 victory inside Bud Walton Arena on an icy Tuesday night in Fayetteville.
Despite being dominated on the offensive boards (24-13) and turning the ball over nine more times than the Aggies, the Razorbacks managed to win creep closer to .500 in conference play.
Arkansas' 12 team blocks were tied for the second most in a regular season SEC game in program history. Makhel Mitchell, who earned the start on his birthday, had seven of those blocks to go along with nine points and 13 rebounds. The seven blocks by Mitchell are the most by any Arkansas player in the Eric Musselman era.
A trio of Hogs scored double-digit points in the game — Ricky Council IV (19), Davonte Davis (19) and Jordan Walsh (12). Arkansas shot 50% from the field in the game, its seventh best mark on the year.
Here's a recap of Arkansas' fourth conference victory of the season.
By the first media timeout, the Hogs led the Aggies 10-7 and Council accounted for five of Arkansas' first 10 points, including a corner three that touched nothing but the net.
After missing two wide open threes to start his outing, Davis drained one from the top left corner of the state of Arkansas outline at mid-court, making it 13-10.
After starting the game 3 of 7 from the floor, A&M made just one of its next nine shots. The Aggies' next made bucket came on a floater from Wade Taylor IV at the 9:29 mark, and it trimmed Arkansas' lead to 19-14.
Both teams did all of their work on the interior over the next few minutes, but Arkansas kept the Aggies at arms length with a six-point advantage at the under-8 media timeout. Going into that break, Arkansas' Anthony Black was called for a hook-and-hold and issued a flagrant 1 foul.
Jordan Walsh converted a 3-point play to extend Arkansas' lead to 31-21 at the 5:03 mark, and A&M head coach Buzz Williams called for a timeout. The decision by Williams worked to perfection as the Aggies hit a trey, grabbed a steal and made a transition layup to cut the deficit to five in the blink of an eye.
The Aggies stuck around through the end of the first half, primarily thanks to their 12 offensive rebounds. Arkansas' 57.7% shooting from the field and 11 points from Ricky Council IV helped it control a 42-34 advantage at the break.
Arkansas opened the half with four straight points to extend the lead to 12, but two possessions later, A&M had hit a layup and Makhi Mitchell had three fouls.
Davis' fourth turnover of the game turned into a transition layup for the Aggies that made Arkansas' lead just 52-47. Davis made up for it with his third three of the game on the ensuing possession.
The Razorbacks went on an 8-2 run going into the under-12 media timeout, and the fans at Bud Walton Arena that braved the weather were on their feet as the Hogs led 60-49.
Another three from Davis gave Arkansas a 13-point lead, its largest of the game to that point, at the under-8 media break.
Following that timeout, A&M went on an 11-2 run that featured a transition slam from Dexter Dennis that trimmed Arkansas' lead to 68-64 with 4:10 to play. After an Aggies timeout, Walsh hit the shot on a put-back, drew a foul, but missed the free throw to leave Arkansas' advantage at six.
Council knocked down a pair of freebies, but A&M's 22nd offensive rebound led to a 3-pointer from Taylor that cut Arkansas' lead to 72-67 and forced a timeout from Musselman.
Makhel Mitchell, Davis, Black and Council all went to the line in the final two minutes to help put Arkansas' lead out of reach. A made three from Taylor with 21 seconds cut the Razorback lead to eight, but it was virtually meaningless at the point.
Up next, the Razorbacks will make the trip to Columbia, South Carolina, for a matchup with South Carolina at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
