FAYETTEVILLE -- It would have been understandable if the Arkansas Razorbacks had a sinking feeling as they went back onto the Walton Arena court to play overtime against Vanderbilt on Tuesday night.
The Razorbacks were 0-6 in games decided by 10 or fewer points -- including overtime losses to Mercer and Dayton and three-point losses to Stanford and Wake Forest -- and now they had to play five more minutes after Vanderbilt 7-footer Damian Jones' dunk at the regulation buzzer sent the game into overtime.
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ARKANSAS MEN VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
WHEN 2:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE Walton Arena, Fayetteville
RECORDS Arkansas 7-7, 1-1 SEC. Mississippi State 7-6, 0-1.
TELEVISION SEC Network
RADIO Razorbacks Sports Network
So what was the Razorbacks' huddle like before those extra five minutes?
"There was no panic in our guys," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said Thursday. "They just wanted to go out and really finish the game.
"Vanderbilt made a play. Now let's go show what we're made of."
The Razorbacks (7-7, 1-1 SEC) showed they could win a close game as they pulled away in overtime to beat the Commodores 90-85 with a 13-5 closing run.
"It's a big sigh of relief," Arkansas senior forward Keaton Miles said. "It's great to come out with a win like that."
Vanderbilt had five of its season-high 26 turnovers in overtime, which resulted in eight points for Arkansas.
"I thought we really went out and got dialed in defensively," Anderson said. "I really felt fatigue became a factor.
"The shots they were making earlier, they weren't making later in the game."
Dusty Hannahs, Moses Kingsley and Jabril Durham scored for the Razorbacks in overtime, when Durham had two steals and Anthlon Bell had one.
Miles had just two baskets in the game, but they came on back-to-back possessions in the final 1:50 of regulation.
"It was good to see them perform in clutch moments, where you've got to have some things take place, because that hadn't been the case," Anderson said. "That's why our record is what it is. Maybe that's a sign of our team learning from the mishaps.
"We completed something, even as it seemed like things were going the opposite way."
Anderson was aware of the criticism of his decision to call timeout with 2.2 seconds left in regulation after Bell's three-point basket put the Razorbacks ahead 77-75.
"We were trying to get our defense set," Anderson said. "I've heard some people say, 'Well, why did he call a timeout?' It's amazing how everybody can coach after the fact."
Anderson substituted Anton Beard and Manny Watkins -- two of Arkansas' best defensive players -- for Bell and Hannahs.
Beard, a 6-foot guard, made a mistake switching onto Jones, who caught a long inbounds pass from Luke Kornet and swooped to the basket for the game-tying score.
"We were tested from the standpoint that there was some adversity that's taking place, and we responded the right way," Anderson said. "To our guys' credit, because of what we've been through, they grinded it out.
"They figured out, 'Hey, we've got to hang our hats on our defense,' and our defense created some opportunities for us.
"Hopefully, that's one of those moments we can really build on."
Anderson said Tuesday night's game reminded him of another victory over Vanderbilt, when the Razorbacks beat the Commodores 77-75 two years ago on Michael Qualls' three-point basket in the final seconds.
The Razorbacks lost their next game at Missouri 86-85, but then won six consecutive games, including road victories at Kentucky and Mississippi State.
Arkansas went to the NIT that season, then last season made its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008.
"Mike makes a shot, and we have to hold them off," Anderson said. "I thought that really kind of catapulted us into what took place the rest of the season and the next year."
Anderson said he hopes beating Vanderbilt this season is another "defining moment" for the Razorbacks.
"We'll see how we respond," he said. "That's one game."
Arkansas has a second consecutive SEC home game against Mississippi State (7-6, 0-1) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
"We always talk about taking care of home, and we want to hopefully continue to play a better brand of basketball," Anderson said. "The challenges continue to come at us."
Anderson said lessons learned from the close losses helped them beat Vanderbilt.
"Without a doubt," Anderson said. "It was like we've been there, done that before, so let's take it to another phase and that's finish it.
"It's about making plays. If you look at what took place in the game, there were multiple plays defensively as well as offensively.
"It wasn't like one guy was trying to do it. They were trusting each other."
Sports on 01/08/2016