Arkansas trailed Vanderbilt by 14 points at the halftime break. The Razorbacks produced just 27 first-half points in their opening game at the SEC Tournament on Wednesday night. Coach Eric Musselman said the defensive effort in the first 20 minutes was pathetic. The ball security was pathetic. The halftime speech was electric.

On the very first possession of the second half, Arkansas forced a 5-second violation on the inbounds pass. Sixteen seconds later, Tramon Mark knocked down a jumper inside. The energy was back, and Arkansas rode that momentum to a 90-85 comeback victory in overtime to keep its season alive for 1 more day.

Khalif Battle led the way for Arkansas with 24 points. He made 5 of his 12 shots from the field and knocked down 13 of his 14 free throw attempts. Arkansas also got 18 points each from Tramon Mark and Makhi Mitchell. Battle had 21 of his 24 in the second half and overtime. Mark scored all 18 of his points in the second half.

When the two sides left the court at the halftime break, the Arkansas team that returned looked markedly different.

In the first half, it was lackadaisical with the ball, and that hurt its defense. Arkansas turned it over 8 times; Vanderbilt knocked down 4 of its 8 shots from 3-point range and made 55% of its shots from the field.

In the second half, Arkansas worked to trap the ball-carrier and funnel the ball to where it wanted. Vandy had 6 turnovers and just 2 makes from beyond the arc in the second half. That effort energized the Razorbacks, who hit 6 of their 13 attempts from 3 after the break.

From the 16:55 mark through the 9-minute mark in the second half, Arkansas outscored Vanderbilt 22-7. With 8:41 to play, the score was tied at 58-58. After the two sides traded buckets back and forth, Arkansas took control of the game with an 8-0 run to head into the final 2 minutes with an 8-point lead.

Ezra Manjon and Ven-Allen Lubin led the Commodores in scoring, combining for 50 points on 21-of-34 shooting. Manjon even hit a turnaround floater (with an outrageously high degree of difficulty) at the end of regulation to tie the game and force overtime.

But they were the only 2 who were able to hurt Arkansas consistently. Early in the first half, guard Tyrin Lawrence appeared to injure his ankle and briefly left the game. He eventually returned and went on to play 35 minutes, but he was seldom engaged on the offensive end.

Lawrence averaged 14.1 points and 5 assists per game during the regular season. He finished with 6 points on 5 shots and 3 assists.

With the victory, Arkansas advances to the second round of the SEC Tournament, where it’ll face 5-seed South Carolina at 3:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. The Gamecocks won the only regular-season meeting between the two teams, a 77-64 game in Fayetteville on Jan. 20. Winners in 11 of their last 14 games, South Carolina is a slight favorite with most online sports betting apps. FanDuel has Arkansas +4.5 priced at -110.