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HawgBeat's coverage of Arkansas' journey in the 2021 NCAA tournament is presented by Wright's Barbecue. Already serving up the best meats in Arkansas, you can now also find Wright's meat rub and sauces at Walmart and Walmart.com.
Arkansas’ first trip to the Sweet 16 in two and a half decades didn’t come without drama.
It seemed like the Razorbacks might cruise to a win over Texas Tech on Sunday, but their 13-point lead dwindled to just one in the closing minutes at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
As it has pretty much all year, though, Arkansas managed to find a way to pull out a 68-66 win that advances it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1996.
“We’re not going to allow them to make a run, but we understand that’s a possibility that’s going to happen and we have to be able to respond and not panic,” senior Justin Smith said. “That just shows the kind of savvy and level-headedness we have as a team, to be able to deal with these runs that some teams may fold under.”
The frenetic final minute started when JD Notae missed a deep three-pointer off the back iron and Terrence Shannon Jr. - the Red Raiders’ leading scorer with 20 points in the game - grabbed the rebound with the Razorbacks clinging to a 1-point lead.
Having made seven of its last 10 shots, after missing 18 of 21 dating back to the final three minutes of the first half, Texas Tech had a chance to take the lead.
Despite a screen giving him a step on Jalen Tate, Shannon wasn’t able to convert a point-blank look, as Tate recovered and provided good defensive pressure without fouling on the layup attempt.
“We got a really good look around the basket,” Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. “T.J. played great tonight, and the play late, I've always tried to put the game in players' hands and those are situations that we practice. We call it chaos.”
Notae came down with the rebound and slowed it down on the other end of the floor before getting fouled with 19.3 seconds remaining.
A 76.3 percent free throw shooter, Notae knocked down his first attempt from the charity stripe, but he left his second one a little short and Texas Tech had the ball back down by two.
