Razorbacks move past Missouri to SEC tourney semifinal, Notae notches 27

WATCH: Musselman, Notae, Davis, Martin post-game pressers

SEC Sixth Man of the Year JD Notae wouldn't let a shaky start send the Hogs home in one-and-done fashion, mustering a 27-point performance despite an assumed food bug trying to sideline him.

Behind Notae's "Flu Game" heroics, the Razorbacks came back from a one-point deficit at halftime versus 7-seed Missouri to win 70-64 and advance to the SEC semifinal for the first time since the 2015 season.

Arkansas secured their 12th straight SEC win of the season as well, mimicking the 1994 team which also got their 12th in the tournament opener.

The Razorbacks started the game 2-7 shooting but turnovers plagued both squads and kept the score close through the first seven minutes. At 10-9 Missouri, Dru Smith and Pinson combined for multiple scores, moving the Tiger lead to 10.

Senior Jalen Tate had to hit the bench with two fouls early and Musselman saw enough of Connor Vanover versus Jeremiah Tilmon in the first nine, subbing them out for JD Notae and Ethan Henderson.

The combo led to a 16-0 run including a dunk from Notae and two threes, two dunks from Henderson and a block and an iso jumper from Devo Davis.

The run was much needed as Missouri would close the half 10-3 to take the lead by one. A rare occurrence for the Hogs, Notae and Henderson led the scorers with 15 and 4. Henderson finished the game with four and three fouls after nine minutes played.

"I thought Notae was awesome offensively in the first half with the 16 points," Musselman said. "We needed his points. We didn’t know if he was going to come out and play the second half. I think it’s some food to be honest with you, because I haven’t felt great all day."

Obviously, we turned the ball over way too much. Our bench, really, really good with 34 points. But I thought JD, in pick and roll, was really, really good for us.

Arkansas won the turnover battle in the first half but the two teams combined for 20. Turnovers and Missouri's ability to push the ball with Xavier Pinson cost the Hogs 16 points.

The Razorbacks focused on denying Tilmon in the second half and were successful, holding him to no points in eight minutes and fouling him out.

"We wanted to sandwich him, we wanted to dig on him in the post," Musselman said. "We wanted to double block him out. We knew that we were probably going to have to go small during stretches, and I thought our small lineup was phenomenal. I thought they made catches more difficult in the post. Then obviously we tried to put him in as many pick and roll situations as we possible could to try to get downhill a little bit."

Shooting just 15 three-point shots compared to 23 per game during the regular season, the Hogs relied on mid-range jumpers and attacking the paint, earning them 22 free throw attempts.

Justin Smith had just three points off of free throws in the first half, but went off for 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting in the second. Those points were part of smaller runs put together by Davis, Moody and Notae to get the Hogs a 10-point lead with 3:40 to play.

Notae, who had to run into the tunnel during the first half after the 16-0 run to presumably puke and did so again at halftime, did not slow down. The Hogs were draining the clock but the score got within five and they needed some security. Notae drove the ball to the left, lost it, recovered and threw the ball up for the score as the shot clock sound.

"Huge, huge basket for us without question," Musselman said. "But that’s what he is. He’s a guy that makes these shots that you sit there and say, ‘No, no, no, no, no. Oh, good shot.

"It happens all the time, and you’ve got to kind of live with him giving a lot of freedom to take those shots."

Notae told Musselman he felt much better after the game–scoring an Arkansas career-high 27 probably factored in.

The Razorbacks pulled off the performance without freshman big Jaylin Williams but the Fort Smith native is in Nashville and the SEC announcers said pregame that he's likely to be cleared to play by Sunday if the Razorbacks make it to the championship game.

Arkansas also took the win with only five points by SEC freshman of the year Moses Moody. The future one-and-done did have eight rebounds, five charges and a blocked shot.

"You could tell that their game plan was to limit Moses' touches," Musselman said. "And I thought the first half we just had too many guys running to the basketball and we talked about going backdoor. We talked about being decoys that they're going to face-guard you or try to eliminate your catches. And that's one game that Moses didn't score the ball a lot, but I thought he did a lot of other things for us from a defensive standpoint, from a rebounding standpoint. The good thing is we get another game tomorrow."

Overall, Arkansas took nine charges to off-set tying its season-high 20 turnovers.

"I think defensively we were really good tonight," Musselman said. "I really do. I thought we let them shoot too high of a percentage for sure, especially in that first half. But I thought out second half defense holding them to 37%, 25% from the 3 was really, really vital."

Arkansas awaits the winner between LSU and Ole Miss on Saturday afternoon. Alabama and Tennessee will tipoff at noon at Arkansas will play 20 minutes after the end of that matchup.