Arkansas starts conference play with tough road test

Guards BJ Young (11) and Ky Madden (00) look to get Arkansas off to a good

start at Texas A&M on Wednesday night in College Station. Photo by Gareth Patterson.

Hogs travel to College Station to start

Conference play versus new member of SEC

Jonathan Thompson

 

 

     The Arkansas Razorbacks (9-4) open conference play Wednesday night at College Station against one of the newest members to the SEC, the Texas A&M Aggies (10-3).

 

     This conference opener should be an interesting match up. The Hogs play an up-tempo game that Mike Anderson in his second year as coach has coined the phrase "The fastest 40 minutes in basketball." The Aggies on the other hand, play a slow, half-court type game.

 

     The Aggies come into the game scoring only 65 points a game. That's almost 20 less than Arkansas' 83. Defensively, the Aggies give up 59 points a game, while the Hogs give up more at 72 points per game.

 

     Stats are often very deceiving going into conference play. With a mixture of cupcakes and tough opponents, some team stats reflect the team more than other teams stats.

 

     One thing these stats do tell is that this game is between a very fast-paced team and a slow, methodical team.

 

     Whoever wants to come out on top will need to control the pace. Texas A&M will have home court advantage which could play a huge role in beating this Arkansas team. Arkansas has played only one road game and lost at Michigan, even though they played the Wolverines pretty well

 

     Arkansas will have a good shot at winning if they are able to hang around and keep it close going into the last five minutes. Texas A&M will want to have a decisive lead which might be difficult with the half-court style play they run.

 

     Either way, this game should be very interesting, and show a lot about both teams, which didn't make a whole lot of noise during their non-conference schedules.