FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The North Carolina A&T men's basketball team can essentially restart its season after its 97-65 loss to the Arkansas Razorbacks of perhaps the best power conference in the nation, the SEC.
The loss drops A&T to 3-10 on the season. The Razorbacks improved to 10-2 by putting seven players in double figures, led by Jonas Aidoo's 17 points.
The Aggies did get a combined 35 points from their Arkansas native duo of Ryan Forrest and Landon Glasper. Forrest, from Marion, Ark., led the Aggies with 19 points. Glasper, who is from Fayetteville, Ark., and went to high school 100 yards from the University of Arkansas's campus, had 16.
A&T will now focus on its historic game against archrival North Carolina Central University (NCCU) on Saturday, December 28, at Corbett Sports Center. The legendary rivalry will air live to a national television audience on CBS/Paramount+ at 2 p.m. The A&T/NCCU game will be followed by another historic rivalry airing on CBS/Paramount+ as Howard will visit Hampton at 4 p.m.
Saturday will be a historic moment for HBCU basketball, but it will also be an opportunity for the Aggies to end an eight-game winning streak before Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) conference play begins soon after the New Year when the Aggies host the Elon Phoenix at Corbett Sports Center on Thursday, January 2 at 7 p.m.
Against the Razorbacks, the Aggies started the game well and ran their offense efficiently. A Forrest pull-up jumper got the Aggies within two of Arkansas at 12-10 over the game's first five minutes. A 9-0 Arkansas run began the march toward the Razorbacks pulling away.
Arkansas took a 23-12 lead on a Billy Richmond III steal and dunk. A pull-up jumper from Glasper got the deficit back under double-figures before Richmond III followed with another dunk to give Arkansas a 25-14 lead with 12 ½ minutes remaining in the first half. It took the Aggies four minutes, but they returned the deficit to single figures again as Nikolaos Chitikoudis stepped in front of a pass and dribbled through the defense for a dunk, cutting Arkansas' lead to 26-17.
After the Chitikoudis dunk, the Aggies connected on one field goal over the next five minutes. When Glasper zipped a pass down low to Efstratios Kalliontzis for a layup, the Aggies were down 39-22 with 6:39 remaining in the first half. Forrest followed by driving the ball to the basket and scoring to cut the lead to 15.
However, Arkansas outscored A&T 15-7 to close the half and take a 54-31 halftime lead. A&T will move on to play NCCU at Corbett, where tickets are starting to go fast. Only general admission seating remains.
