FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas basketball team led for 41 minutes and 28 seconds against Texas A&M on Saturday night, but the Razorbacks still found themselves trailing twice in overtime.
The Razorbacks also fell behind with senior guard JD Notae -- the SEC's leading scorer at 18.6 points per game who finished with 17 -- on the bench having fouled out with 1:04 left in regulation.
Some teams might have panicked after giving up a 16-point lead earlier in the game and having to rally without their top playmaker, but Arkansas pulled out a 76-73 victory in Walton Arena.
"I give our guys a lot of credit," Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman said. "Give A&M a lot of credit as well.
"They put themselves in a great opportunity to potentially walk out of here with a 'W' after only leading for 1:24 in the game."
The Aggies never led in regulation, but sent the game to overtime on Hassan Diarra's three-point basket with 9.1 seconds left that tied the score 64-64.
Texas A&M then led in overtime, 66-64 and 68-66, before Arkansas regained the lead for good on a three-point play by sophomore guard Davonte Davis with 2:31 left.
The Razorbacks (14-5, 4-3 SEC) won their fourth consecutive game. They trailed in the second half or overtime in three of those victories, overcoming an eight-point deficit with less than seven minutes to play at LSU and rallying from down seven points at halftime to beat South Carolina.
"I think it says that we're a strong, confident team and that we believe in each other," sophomore forward Jaylin Williams said of Arkansas' ability to stay poised and come from behind. "JD fouled out, and we knew that it was next man up.
"Something that we say to each other is that we've seen everything this year. We've been down 20, we've been down 5, 6, 8, whatever it is.
"So regardless of what the score is, I know that this team is going to continue to fight back."
Williams finished with 14 points, 11 rebounds, a career-high 6 steals, 3 assists and 3 blocked shots.
"Man, I just do whatever it takes to win," Williams said. "My teammates know that's how I play."
Davis scored all 4 of his points in overtime and had 5 rebounds and 3 assists. He took an inbound pass from Williams with 5.5 seconds left in overtime and made a long throw to Stanley Umude for a dunk with 1.2 seconds left that put Arkansas ahead 76-73.
"Tried to get a five-second call," Texas A&M Coach Buzz Williams said of the Aggies' defensive strategy.on Arkansas' final possession. "Tried to get a steal. Tried to get a tie-up. The jump ball [arrow] favored us. With the fourth option being to foul."
Diarra had another three-point attempt -- more of a heave than a shot -- and this time the ball barely touched the front of the rim.
"We just stick together, try to keep our spirits high," Umude said of recovering from losing a 64-58 lead with 58 seconds left in regulation. "If we had just given up after [Diarra's] three, then we wouldn't have been able to rally up in overtime.
"I think we did a good job of just keeping our head, and the fans were giving us life at the end, too."
Umude finished with 15 points and senior forward Au'Diese Toney added 12.
Texas A&M freshman guard Wade Taylor, who scored 11 points in the Aggies' 86-81 victory over Arkansas on Jan. 8, had a career-high 25 off the bench on Saturday night. His previous high was 14 points against Notre Dame.
Taylor hit 8 of 14 shots, including 5 of 8 three-pointers, and 4 of 5 free throws. He missed a three-point attempt in overtime after Arkansas took a 71-68 lead.
"For a freshman, he's a really confident player," Jaylin Williams said. "He changes the tempo for their team."
When Arkansas went ahead 20-4 to start the game, it looked like it might be a repeat of the Razorbacks' 87-43 victory over Missouri when they took a 26-3 lead.
But with Taylor hitting 5 of 5 shots in the first half and scoring 13 points, Texas A&M pulled within 33-29 by halftime and kept fighting back.
"Very seldom does a game go the whole distance like it did against Missouri," Musselman said. "[The Aggies are] going to make a run.
"They're a team that's scrappy and competitive. They've got a heck of a record [15-4], so they're going to keep coming at you."
Notae sat out the final 6:27 of the first half after picking up his second foul.
"Then Taylor just got red-hot," Musselman said. "You look at all their other numbers and we did not a good job, but a phenomenal job, on everybody else in that first half. They had a player get really hot, make some threes, now that lead gets shrunk."
Arkansas shot 37.5% (24 of 64), but held the Aggies to 37.1% (23 of 62) and forced 19 turnovers.
The Razorbacks started 7 of 12 from the field and were 4 of 5 in overtime. Between those hot stretches, they shot 14 of 49.
"Basketball is just a game of runs," Jaylin Williams said. "Shots are going to fall, shots are going to miss. So I think it was just the flow of the game."
After being at the bottom of the SEC standings with a 0-3 start, Arkansas is in a three-way for fifth with Alabama and Tennessee.
"Obviously not happy where we started, but all you can do is go to practice, get better," Musselman said. "I think we have gotten better.
"We didn't stay status quo with the lineup. We changed not only our starting lineup, but we changed our rotations.
"We tinkered, we kept trying to figure things out and this group -- at least right now -- has played really, really well as a starting unit."
The revamped starting lineup includes Notae, Williams, Umude, Toney and Trey Wade.
"We have a big group, we have a physical group," Musselman said. "We have a defensive group and we have a group that shares the basketball."
UP NEXT
Arkansas men vs Ole Miss
WHEN 6 p.m. Central on Wednesday
WHERE The Pavilion, Oxford, Miss.
RECORDS Arkansas 14-5, 4-3 SEC; Ole Miss 9-9, 1-5
SERIES Arkansas leads 50-33
RADIO Razorback Sports Network
TV SEC Network