The Arkansas Razorbacks scored a remarkable victory on Saturday, with an exciting 86-81 victory in overtime at No. 10 Missouri in Columbia. With the win, Arkansas improves to 16-5 overall and 8-4 in the SEC game. Missouri drops to 13-5 and 6-5 in the league.
The Hogs had a golden opportunity to win the game in regulation, winning 73-69 in the final minute, before Missouri scored two layups to force the overtime. Instead of ducking his head, the Razorbacks fought during the extra period and got an 82-81 lead on Davonte Davis’ tray with 35 seconds remaining.
Jalen Tate blocked a Dru Smith layup attempt with 21 seconds remaining in overtime. However, the referees whistled for the goal, giving Missouri the lead. After review, the basket was released, but the Tigers regained possession and Arkansas was forced to make another defensive stop. This time, it was Moses Moody who came out with a theft and won on the free-throw line to seal the frustrated victory for the Razorbacks.
“The defensive stop was a clutch,” said Musselman of the wild streak at the end of overtime. “We were waiting for them to catch the ball or whatever. But Tate knew he didn’t tend to the goal. So it would either be their ball or our ball out of bounds.and we did a good job, not giving up on an easy catch. We had very active hands. Again, I am very proud of how hard our guys played.
“It’s a big win whenever you can beat a team from the top 10 on the road. Often you see a team that is right there on the verge of winning when it’s on the road and the game goes into overtime, you see an emotional disappointment. You see a team kind of hung up because it was there in the regulations for us to win. “
Justin Smith led the way to Arkansas with 19 points, followed by Moody with 16. Tate added 14, and Connor Vanover scored all of his 12 points in the second half. The Razorbacks hit 46.8% of the field, 8 out of 21 outside the arc and 20 out of 23 in the charity band. Missouri was led by Xavier Pinson’s 23 points. Dru Smith pitched 15 to the Tigers, who pitched 45% of the field, 13 out of 32 in three and 14 out of 21 on the free throw line.
Arkansas lost the battle in the glass by 34-29, but it gained points in the painting 38-28 and points in the losses by 19-11. Hogs had 18 assists and 13 turnovers. Meanwhile, Missouri turned the ball 16 times while giving 15 assists.
FIRST HALF RUNDOWN
Moses Moody scored the first two baskets for the Razorbacks, but Missouri was out of the question despite having no center holder Jeremiah Tilmon. His replacement, Mitchell Smith, buried a top three pair and the Tigers jumped to a 10-4 lead in the first media timeout with 15:53 remaining in the first half.
Moody continued to be the only offense for Arkansas. His three corner for the Razorbacks out of time made 10-7. Unfortunately, Moody suffered his second personal foul on a moving screen and went to the bench with more than 14 minutes remaining for the break.
Jaylin Williams found a cut Desi Sills to a tray to get the Hogs inside one with 13:38 on the clock. Arkansas tightened things up defensively, forcing a kick timer violation and coming out with a steal, but they were unable to capitalize on a Tigers five-minute scoring drought due to sloppy turns and poor selection of kicks themselves. Missouri took a 10-9 lead to the next time limit at the 11:35 mark.
Missouri went on an 8-0 run at halftime, culminating in a Xavier Pinson three, to extend his advantage to 18-9 with 9:50 remaining. Williams scored the first point for the Hogs in more than four minutes with a free throw, and a two-handed blow from Jalen Tate reduced the deficit to 18-12 soon after.
Things opened up offensively from there. Tate and Williams buried three for the Razorbacks, but were answered both times by Missouri Torrence Watson and Pinson. Missouri led 26-18 by going out with a 7:20 left in the break.
The only points for both teams in the next three minutes came on the free-throw line. Missouri led 29-22 at the 4: 9 mark. Arkansas was lucky to be so close during a 0-7 stretch of the field, where it relied on defense to keep them at an attack distance. The offense woke up a little after that.
Sills scored the next four points for Arkansas, narrowing the gap to 31-26 and then took charge with 2:54 left in the break. Vance Jackson he shook home a three to make 31-29 with just over two minutes left. Missouri responded with a pair of free throws and an easy backdoor tray, and the Tigers took a 35-31 lead for the break.
SECOND HALF RUNDOWN
Justin Smith buried a corner jumper to open the second half by scoring and taking the Razorbacks within two, and Tate tied the game at 35 with a runner at 18:35. After forcing a turn, Arkansas had a 37-35 lead in a two-handed dunk by Connor Vanover.
Missouri responded with a Kobe Brown tray, but the Hogs found Vanover again for an easy tray to put Arkansas back on top. Both teams exchanged buckets around the edge over the couple’s next possessions until Vanover connected from a distance to give the Razorbacks a 44-40 lead, but Pinson responded with a triple of his own to put the Tigers back in one in the U16 timeout.
Drew Buggs hit the top three of the season for Missouri, drawing the game to 46 points. Vanover responded on the other side, but Watson hit his third triple of the game to make it 49-49 with about 14 minutes to play.
Buggs layup by passing Vanover’s hand to give Missouri a 51-49 lead, but a pair of free throws by Justin Smith tied the game and Moody punched a three-point basket to give Arkansas a 54-51 lead by going for the media timeout with 11:50 remaining in the regulation.
Sills fled for a transition layup and Davonte Davis dropped a jumper to extend Arkansas’s lead to 58-51, but Pinson buried his fourth three-point basket of the day to reduce it to four with 10:32 remaining.
Justin Smith launched an alley-oop slam to place the Hogs at 60-54, but Missouri responded with three more, this time from Dru Smith to make 60-57. He buried another, giving a dozen to Missouri, to tie the game at 60, going for a 7:40 media timeout to play.
A pair of free throws from Tate gave Arkansas a 62-60 lead with 6:38 remaining, but Dru Smith tied the game with a tray in possession of the next ball. The comings and goings affair continued with Justin Smith dropping a triple to Arkansas. The Hogs led 65-62 with 5:52 left.
Missouri reduced to 67-66 in a Buggs layup before the next media timeout with 3:40 remaining. Moody increased Arkansas’s lead to 69-66 with a couple of free throws in the range.
Justin Smith left with a stealing ball that followed in Missouri and Vanover dropped a jumper to extend the lead to five, but Pinson found the bottom of the long distance again to make the 71-69 with 2:43 remaining in the games.
A lob dunk for Arkansas was released by a recovery call. The Hogs forced a mistake on the other side and went ahead 73-69 with 1:20 remaining on a Justin Smith tray, forcing a quick Tigers timeout.
Mitchell Smith delayed a failure to get Missouri within two (73-71) with 42 seconds remaining, and the Tigers tied the game at 73 with nine seconds remaining on a Braun tray. Davis’ last attempt was blocked, taking the game into overtime.
OVER TIME
Arkansas opened the overtime with a Justin Smith tray to go to the top 75-73. Smith missed the free throw to avoid the three points. Pinson profited with two in a row to tie the game at 75 with 3:55 on the clock.
Missouri stole a wrong pass from the Hogs, but Arkansas was lucky when Braun missed a pair of free throws for the Tigers. Vanover lost a three with 3:26 remaining, but Arkansas was able to regain possession of the ball when the ball rolled off Tiger’s foot.
As a result, Justin Smith nailed it, giving Arkansas a 77-75 lead with 3:19 to go. Pinson remained a thorn in the side of the Razorbacks, converting a three-point play to give Missouri a 78-77 lead with 2:51 on the clock.
The Tigers forced a turn and Pinson split a pair of free throws to extend the Missouri lead to two with 2:15 remaining. With 1:53 to play, Tate went down with an offensive rebound to Arkansas and made his way to the free throw line with a chance to tie the game after drawing a foul, but he was only able to make 1 of 2.
Arkansas came out with a defensive stop in possession of the ball that followed and scored a foul in Missouri 1:17 before the end of overtime. Moody did both and Arkansas led 80-79. Moody suffered his fourth foul at the other end, sending Mark Smith to the free-throw line, where he did both and gave the Tigers an 81-80 lead with 59.7 seconds remaining.
The Hogs reached an 82-81 lead with Davis’ tray 35 seconds away, and Missouri took a break after crossing the half court with 33.8 seconds remaining to prepare for their next move. Tate blocked a Dru Smith attempt with 21 seconds remaining, but the officials called the goal in the play. After the review, the basket was dismissed, but Missouri was awarded possession, despite the fact that Sills guaranteed the rebound in the opening play.
Moody recovered with a theft and scored a foul with 13.6 seconds left. The freshman made the first free throw and buried the second to put Hogs ahead 84-81. Missouri lost a three-point attempt that tied the game, Moody secured the rebound and scored another foul. He buried both attempts to seal the huge 86-81 victory for the Razorbacks.
NEXT
Arkansas returns to the friendly confines of Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday, February 16, when it receives Florida. The Gators (10-5, 6-4 SEC) have not played since the February 3 loss to South Carolina. Florida was dealing with COVID issues that caused the games with LSU and Tennessee to be postponed. His weekend game with Texas A&M was postponed due to COVID-related issues with the Aggies.