If you’d told me that JD Notae would have 2 points with 14:43 left in the game, I would have expected Arkansas to be on its way back to Fayetteville.

But as the clock struck midnight in Buffalo, N.Y., it was Cinderella who took the pumpkin ride back home.

It wasn’t pretty, but the No. 4 seed Razorbacks survived No. 13-seed Vermont, 75-71, and that’s the bottom line when you’re fighting to dance another day. Right, Kentucky?

Although Notae did wind up with 17 points, it was his teammates that bailed him out. And that’s sort of been the Razorbacks’ MO this season – find a way to win. What Thursday’s NCAA Tournament opener showed to me is that the Hogs can indeed win a basketball game without Notae pacing the scoring attack.

Stanley Umude was sensational on offense, picking up the slack. His 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and a perfect 6-for-6 from the line, was crucial. Simply put, the Hogs don’t advance without that performance. He was 1 rebound shy of a double-double in leading Arkansas with 21 points.

But he wasn’t the only one who saved the season. How about Davonte Davis coming off the bench? He gave head coach Eric Musselman 36 solid minutes. His 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting was a big key to keeping the Hogs alive.

Yes, it was a team effort that picked up Notae in the NCAA Tournament opener. Jaylin Williams was his usual steady self. Although he did not have a particularly good game shooting, hitting just 4-of-10 shots, he did collect 13 points and 10 rebounds and did a decent enough job of defending the rim.

Defense wins championships. Arkansas played good enough defense to win this game, but still allowed too many cutters leak through for easy layups. That can happen when your concentration is on the opponents’ 3-point shooters – the Catamounts hit 9 3s (9-for-24).

But the impatience on offense was somewhat alarming. I would have liked to have seen the Razorbacks play with more patience on offense and use their advantage athletically. Too many times they settled for low-percentage long-range jumpers and weren’t aggressive enough in attacking the rim.

You can squeak by with that against Vermont, and maybe even New Mexico State in the 2nd round Saturday. It isn’t good enough to get past the Sweet 16.

Yeah, I thought it was over early in the second half when the Hogs went up 11 and looked to have the momentum going their way.

But the Hogs let them back in mainly because of the play of Vermont’s Ryan Davis (20 points on 7-for-10 shooting). He absolutely schooled the Razorbacks on both ends of the court with tough, fundamental basketball.

Couple that with an ability to hit the 3s, which we all knew they could do, and it was a ballgame to the end when perhaps it shouldn’t have been.

Vermont did what Arkansas should have done; stay patient on offense, work it until you find the open man and then hit your shots. Arkansas did not do that nearly enough, and when you add Notae’s frustration, it resulted in a tough time for the Hogs.

Those pull-up jumpers just ain’t gonna get it done; neither are the 30-footers, not when you’re struggling to find the hoop. Thankfully Notae did sink 6-of-8 free throws to somewhat offset his 5-for-16 shooting from the floor, including 1-for-7 from beyond the arc.

Hopefully this serves as some sort of wake-up call for the Hogs, but they looked very much like the team that lost to Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament semifinal. That’s the wrong way to be trending at this time in the season.

Have the Hogs peaked? Have they reached their ceiling? Is this as good as it gets? It’s becoming more and more clear that it is. The Razorbacks look like that team that rallied from a 20-point deficit and once they caught up, had nothing left in the tank to finish the job.

Tired legs? Frustration on offense? All energy expended on the other end of the court? Whatever it is, this doesn’t look like the same Arkansas team that reeled off 14 victories in 15 games.

Of course, you have to consider that this is the Big Dance and the Saint Peter’s of the world can sometimes jump up and bite you, but you can’t convince me that Vermont is any better than a middle-of-the-pack SEC team.

New Mexico State will offer a big challenge for the Razorbacks on Saturday. It certainly did for UConn. Play like they did on Thursday, and it‘s the Aggies, not the Razorbacks, that make the Sweet 16.