Rapid Reaction: Arkansas holds off Vermont, advances to Round of 32

Arkansas is moving on to the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament. The No. 4-seed Razorbacks did just enough to hold off No. 13-seed Vermont’s upset bid in Buffalo, escaping with a 75-71 victory.

Vermont’s Ben Shungu hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 73-71 with 14 seconds left. With 9 seconds left, there was a key call of out of bounds, last touched by Arkansas’ JD Notae on an inbounds play. Upon review, it was ruled that a Catamount defender touched the ball on the way out, keeping the ball with the Razorbacks. Notae would go on to add a pair of free throws, helping ice a 75-71 win.

Arkansas led 34-27 at the half, but Vermont came out strong in the second half, taking a 39-36 lead at the 15:36 mark. After more ties and lead changes, Arkansas went ahead 52-51 on Stanley Umude’s free throws at the 9:34 mark. The Catamounts hung around until the final buzzer, but the Hogs were able to successfully close it out.

Vermont actually won a few box score battles, including field-goal percentage (44.8%-42.9%), 3-point shooting (9-of-24 to 7-of-21), assists (13-12) and turnovers (6-5). Two key statistical victories in the Razorbacks’ favor were rebounds and free throws. The Hogs won the battle of the boards 39-32 rebounds. Eric Musselman’s squad made it more to the line, making 20-of-25 free throws. The Catamounts shot 17 free throws, making 10.

Arkansas’ Umude led all scorers with 21 points on 6-of-11 shooting, including 3-of-4 from 3-point territory. Notae finished with 17 points, while Jaylin Williams posted a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Andrew Olson

Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.