The Arkansas Razorbacks (9-2, 0-0 SEC) have just two non-conference matchups left before they start SEC play, and they can't look past the North Carolina A&T Aggies (3-9, 0-1 CAA), who will visit Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.
Arkansas' penultimate non-conference matchup looks like an easy game on paper, but another wire-to-wire win would help the Razorbacks in the metrics and analytics. Right now, the Hogs sit at No. 40 in KenPom and No. 48 in the NET rankings.
The Aggies are led by second-year head coach Monte Ross. He was an assistant at Temple for four years and spent 10 years as the head coach at Delaware prior to that. Last season, NC A&T finished 7-25 and 5-13 in the Coastal Athletic Association.
This season, it hasn't gone much better. The Aggies are at 3-9 with wins over Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, The Citadel and Morgan State University. They've lost seven games in a row, with the most recent game a 73-68 loss to Coastal Carolina.
There are several interesting ties between the Aggies and the Razorbacks in Saturday's matchup. NC A&T junior guard Jordan Martin is the son of Arkansas assistant coach Chuck Martin. North Carolina A&T's leading scorer, Landon Glasper, is a Fayetteville native and was at Fayetteville High School while Arkansas staff member Ronnie Brewer was on staff.
The Aggies' second-leading scorer, Ryan Forrest, is also an Arkansas native and hails from Marion. He and Glasper played AAU ball for Brewer while in high school.
Here's HawgBeat's preview of what you need to know about the North Carolina A&T Aggies ahead of Saturday's contest, including analytics, players to watch for and more...
