How to watch to Arkansas-Texas A&M, preview, projected lineups, more
Following a hard-fought 76-73 win over Auburn in the second round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday, the 10-seeded Arkansas Razorbacks will set their sights on the No. 18 and 2-seeded Texas A&M Aggies for a matchup in the quarterfinals Friday.
The win over the Tigers was much-needed for an Arkansas team that finished the regular season with three straight losses. Those games have been thrown out the window and all that matters is the "new season" the Hogs are now in.
"We're 1-0 right now," freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. said on the SEC Network after the game. "Whatever we did in the regular season doesn't matter."
Smith hit a mid-range jumper with 16 seconds to play to put Arkansas back in front of Auburn and it didn't look back. The five-star freshman now has eight games under his belt since returning from injury — one of which was a scoreless performance against A&M — and he's really starting to show why he's a projected lottery pick.
"Nick read the defense well, was really aggressive, as well," head coach Eric Musselman said. "He wanted the ball in his hands. I thought our guys did a good job of finding him and not rushing a shot. We rushed a shot about a minute and a half before that. For a freshman to make that shot in an SEC Tournament game, that's a big shot."
Arkansas got the best of Texas A&M with an 81-70 home victory on Jan. 31, but a tough showing offensively in the second half led to a 62-56 loss at the Aggies on Feb. 15.
Texas A&M won eight of its last nine games — including a 67-61 win over No. 2 Alabama last Saturday — and it is as hot as any team in the country right now. Arkansas worked the blueprint of beating the Aggies once, but it will be a tough task to do it again Friday.
"They're physical," Musselman said. "Their up-front guys, (Henry) Coleman and (Julius) Marble, rebound the basketball. They score points in the paint. Obviously they have two-star players in Wade Taylor and (Tyrece) Radford. Those guys, I actually love watching 'em play.
"Radford has incredible toughness. In my opinion might be as versatile as any player in the league because he can guard one through five basically, for sure one through four. Then (Dexter) Dennis, he's a really great complementary guy to the up-front physicality of Marble-Coleman and then the backcourt of Taylor and Radford."
With a win over Texas A&M, the Razorbacks would advance to the semifinal round to play the winner of 6-seed Vanderbilt and 3-seed Kentucky. A loss would send them back home to Fayetteville to wait and see what seed they will be in the NCAA Tournament.
Here are details on how to watch/listen, notes, projected lineups, stats, odds and more for Friday's game between Arkansas and Texas A&M:
Notes
~ Arkansas is 30-29 all-time in the SEC Tournament and this will be just the second time Arkansas has faced Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament.
~ This is the second time the Aggies have earned a double-bye at the SEC Tournament. The 2015- 16 Aggies were the top seed and reached the final of the 2016 SEC Tournament.
~ This will be the 11th year the SEC Tournament will be held in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. Arkansas is 9-9 all-time in Bridgestone Arena, reaching the finals twice (2015 and 2017) and the semifinals twice (2001 and 2021).
~ At last year's tournament in Tampa, Florida, the Aggies won three games, including upsets of top-seeded Auburn (67-62) and Arkansas (82-64) to reach the final where they fell to Tennessee (65-50).
~ The Aggies overcame deficits of eight points or more in six of their last 12 SEC contests, including a trio of 12-point comebacks vs. Auburn (2/7), Arkansas (2/15) and Ole Miss (2/29).
~ The Aggies allowed a SEC-low average of 26.7 first-half points in conference play and limited opponents to 30 or fewer in 13-of-18 SEC games, including the past 3.
~ Texas A&M is a SEC-best 22-4 in its last 26 games against SEC opponents (includes SEC tournament).
How to Watch/Listen
Who: Arkansas Razorbacks (20-12) vs No. 18 Texas A&M Aggies (23-8)
When: Friday, March 10 at 6 p.m. CT
Where: Nashville, Tenn. – Bridgestone Arena (18,500)
Television: SEC Network
Stream/Online: WATCH ESPN
Radio: Learfield Razorback Sports Network (Chuck Barrett and Matt Zimmerman)
Gameday Info and How to Listen Online/Mobile: Razorback Gameday App
Projected Lineups
Arkansas (lineup from 3/9)
#0 - G Anthony Black - Fr., 6'7", 198 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 34.7 min, 13.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 2.0 steals, 3.2 turnovers, 0.5 blocks, 46.7 fg%, 31.3 3fg%
#1 - G Ricky Council IV - Jr., 6'6", 205 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 34.3 min, 16.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.2 steals, 2.2 turnovers, 0.3 blocks, 45.1 fg%, 27.9 3fg%
#3 - G Nick Smith Jr. - Fr., 6'5", 185 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 25.4 min, 13.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.5 turnovers, 0.2 blocks, 40.3 fg%, 34.5 3fg%
#4 - G Davonte Davis - Jr., 6'4", 185 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 33.3 min, 10.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.4 steals, 2.0 turnovers, 0.1 blocks, 41.5 fg%, 35.0 3fg%
#20 - F Kamani Johnson - Sr., 6'7", 230 lbs.
2022-23 Stats per game: 11.4 min, 2.1 points, 2.8 rebounds, 0.2 assists, 0.6 steals, 0.4 turnovers, 0.3 blocks, 51.6 fg%
Texas A&M
#4 - G Wade Taylor IV - So., 6'0", 185 lbs.
2022 Stats per game: 28.4 min, 16.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.8 steals, 2.6 turnovers, 0.1 blocks, 40.5 fg%, 36.5 3fg%
#23 - G Tyrece Radford - Sr., 6'2", 195 lbs.
2022 Stats per game: 30.9 min, 13.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.8 turnovers, 0.3 blocks, 39.2 fg%, 32.2 3fg%
#0 - G Dexter Dennis - Gr-Sr., 6'5", 210 lbs.
2022 Stats per game: 28.3 min, 9.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.8 steals, 1.0 turnovers, 0.6 blocks, 38.7 fg%, 30.0 3fg%
#15 - F Henry Coleman III - Jr., 6'8", 245 lbs.
2022 Stats per game: 26.9 min, 9.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.9 steals, 1.4 turnovers, 0.1 blocks, 53.5 fg%
#34 - F Julius Marble - Jr., 6'9”, 245 lbs.
2022 Stats per game: 21.2 min, 9.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.4 assists, 0.4 steals, 1.1 turnovers, 0.4 blocks, 53.3 fg%
Vegas odds:
Vegas: Arkansas is a 1.5-point underdog (BetSaracen)
ESPN: Arkansas has an 54.7% chance to win
Headlines
WATCH: Musselman, Davis, Black react to 76-73 win over Auburn
Takeaways from Arkansas' 76-73 win over Auburn
(some information courtesy of Arkansas and Texas A&M Communications)