The Aggies can earn the SEC’s automatic berth by beating No. 9 Tennessee on Sunday. But even with a loss in the final, they’re likely in — only weeks after looking like they had no shot.
“That’s not up to me. I just go out there, and I play my game. That’s up to the higher-ups,” leading scorer Quenton Jackson said after his 20-point performance helped the Aggies take down No. 15 Arkansas 82-64 in the semifinals on Saturday. “I try to make sure that me and my team are on the same page and we play as hard as we can every night.”
Hassan Diarra, whose clutch 3-pointer in the closing seconds of overtime gave the Aggies an 83-80 victory in A&M’s tournament opener, had 12 points. Tyrece Radford and Henry Coleman contributed 12 of 11 points, respectively, after playing key roles in a five-point upset of fourth-ranked Auburn in the quarterfinals.
Stanley Umude led the Razorbacks with 20 points. Au’Diese Toney added 18, but leading scorer JD Notae was slowed by foul trouble and limited to five points — nearly 14 below his average — on 2-of-8 shooting.“I think JD, obviously the foul trouble was problematic. It wasn’t just offense. I can’t remember JD’s defense like that since we’ve been together,” Musselman said. “So it was both sides of the basketball, to be honest with you.
Arkansas, the No. 4 seed after winning 14 of 16 games to end the regular season, used an 8-0 burst to trim an 11-point deficit to 47-44. But Texas A&M was hardly rattled, rebuilding the lead to 11 over the next three minutes and hiking it to 68-52 on Radford’s three-point play with 6:30 to go.DICKIE V