Joe knocks down dagger to finish pesky Aggies, 69-59

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FAYETTEVILLE — It required a couple of daggers from Isaiah Joe, but Arkansas finally put away Texas A&M in its SEC opener Saturday.

The sharp-shooting sophomore knocked down two three-pointers in the final four minutes to help the Razorbacks beat the pesky Aggies 69-59 in front of a sell-out crowd at Bud Walton Arena.

Texas A&M came into the game as the worst team in the conference according to multiple metrics, but wouldn’t just roll over. When the final buzzer went off, Arkansas improved to 12-1 - its best start in more than a decade.

It wasn’t always pretty for the Razorbacks, which actually didn’t lead during the first seven-plus minutes of the game. The crowd of 19,200 was waiting to explode as Arkansas chucked up eight three-pointers in its first nine shots, but it made only two.

Meanwhile, despite it being the worst three-point shooting team in the country and facing the best three-point defense in the country, Texas A&M’s Savion Flagg banked in a three on the first possession of the game and the Aggies led off and on for the first 10 minutes.

A pair of free throws by Jalen Harris gave the Razorbacks their first lead of the game with 12:11 left, but it was back-and-forth until they turned up the defensive pressure.

For a nearly five-minute stretch, Texas A&M failed to score and turned the ball over four times. Unfortunately for Arkansas, it couldn’t capitalize and extend its lead.

Desi Sills converted a three-point play to give the Razorbacks the lead and made another three free throws to stretch it to 24-20, but they also turned the ball over four times during the Aggies’ scoreless stretch.

Although Texas A&M pulled within a point on three separate occasions and even tied it up on a Quenton Jackson three-pointer, it never got completely over the hump.

Mason Jones immediately answered Jackson’s shot with a three of his own and later hit another three with contact for a rare four-point play.

On the final possession of the half, Sills and Isaiah Joe each missed a three, but the Razorbacks - who had just one in the first 19.5 minutes - came up with the offensive rebound both times. Playing just the final 45 seconds, Jeantal Cylla kept the ball alive on the second one and got the ball to Sills, who knocked down his second-chance three.

That sent Arkansas into halftime with its largest lead of the game at 42-33.

Any momentum from the play did not carry into the second half. The Razorbacks briefly pushed it out to a 10-point margin, but the Aggies started chipping at that lead and managed to pull within 50-48 on a jumper by Andre Gordon.

Texas A&M had four straight opportunities to tie or take the lead after that point. It failed to do so, with the last time ending with a Jones steal. That possession ended with Whitt making a jumper from the free throw line to get the crowd on its feet.

Back-to-back turnovers by the Aggies led to a fast break layup by Jones and a crazy shot by Harris late in the shot clock to make it 63-54 with four and a half minutes left.

Emanuel Miller answered quickly with a powerful dunk, but Joe knocked down the first of his two aforementioned three-pointers down the stretch to help the Razorbacks pull away for good.

Much like the last several games, Joe and Jones finished atop the scoring with 17 points apiece. Sills and Whitt were the other Razorbacks in double figures, finishing with 13 and 12 points, respectively.

This is the first time Arkansas is 12-1 since the 2008-09 season, when it knocked off top-10 Oklahoma and Texas in a span of a week before collapsing in conference play.

The Razorbacks will try to avoid that same fate when they hit the road for a couple of games next week, beginning with a trip to LSU on Wednesday. Tip is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ESPNU.

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