The Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 75-59 on Tuesday inside Bud Walton arena in front of a pretty rowdy crowd with Head Coach Eric Musselman coaching from the bench wearing in an arm sling. Until the last few games Arkansas fans hadn’t had much to cheer about despite a 12-5 overall record heading into the game. For the first half there wasn’t much to cheer about as Arkansas’s offense struggled against the zone defense of South Carolina. The Hogs did most of their damage at the free throw line in the first half to keep them in the game at halftime. South Carolina led 40-33 at the half and had all the momentum heading into the break. South Carolina guard Devin Carter was getting just about anything he wanted in the first half and was the catalyst for the Gamecock offense. The Arkansas Razorbacks jut couldn’t find any rhythm whatsoever on offense against a stingy zone defense coached by Frank Martin. It seemed like it was going to be another bad night for the hogs and they were going to drop their 4 conference game of the young season. However, Arkansas flipped the script in the 2nd half and looked like an entirely different team on offense and defense, out scoring the Gamecocks 42-19 in the 2nd half en route to the 75-59 victory. Four Razorbacks finished in double figure scoring with Forward Jaylin Williams leading the team with 19 points,Guard JD Notae had 17 points, Guard Au’Diese Toney collected 13 points and Guard Stanley Umude finished with 12 points on the night. Only 2 Gamecocks finished the game in double figures scoring as Guard Devin Carter had 20 points which led both teams and Guard James Reese V had 10 points in the game. Despite the win, Arkansas was unable to knock down a three point shot for the first time in 1,092 games dating back to 1989. In the win, Arkansas improved to 13-5 overall and 3-3 in conference play and South Carolina fell to 10-7 overall and 1-4 in conference. The next game for Arkansas will be at home as they will welcome the 15-2 and 4-0 Texas A&M Aggies to Fayetteville on Saturday at 7:30pm Central time. The Hogs will look to stay hot and win their fourth consecutive conference game after an 0-3 start. The Aggies are also coming into this game with a lot of confidence and playing undeniably good basketball. Texas A&M has already beaten the the Hogs once this year, winning 86-81 in College Station on January 8th.
