They would never admit it, but they had to be exhausted.
With the weather, it had to be an issue just getting to Walton Arena, which had a few hundred empty seats but was still vibrant and jumping for everything Razorback.
Not talking about the players -- who are too young to get exhausted -- or the coaches, but the three officials after blowing their whistles 49 times on fouls alone, and several times for reviews or maybe just for fun.
Probably Texas A&M Coach Buzz Williams wore the SEC office out Wednesday morning complaining.
Arkansas shot 40 free throws, made 31 and won 78-77 on Tuesday night.
Granted, the Aggies got to the line 33 times and made 23, but that's 73 free throws that turned a game of basketball into a 2-hour, 38-minute marathon, much of it spent at the free-throw line, and and neither team was able to get into a flow.
Arkansas led 46-32 at the half. During intermission Williams changed from a three-piece suit into a sweater, but he also got his team to quit thinking about last Saturday's win over Kentucky and focus on the Hogs, who were 14 of 26 from the field and 13 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Mostly, though, Eric Musselman had the Razorbacks playing tough man-to-man defense and the Aggies missed their first seven shots and were just 11 of 38 from the field and 9 of 12 from the free-throw line in the opening half. For a while it appeared the Razorbacks might run the Aggies out of the gym.
It may have started before halftime and had nothing to do with Williams' wardrobe overhaul. He and Vanderbilt's Jerry Stackhouse are the best-dressed coaches in the SEC.
The Aggies ended up dominating the boards, the paint and everything except the free-throw line,
Both teams were called for 16 second-half fouls, enough to put the visitors on the line 21 times and the home team 26.
For a while it seemed A&M would not be able to crash the 10-point deficit. After two starters fouled out, it looked like it might be a whole hog kind of night.
Except the Aggies kept pushing and Wade Taylor hit a three pointer with 7.6 second to play to give the Aggies a 77-76 lead, their first of the night.
Taylor led the Aggies with 41 points. But in basketball, 7.6 seconds can be an eternity and Arkansas' leading scorer, Tramon Mark ,who had 35 points, was as calm and cool as he could be.
The former Houston starter who has seen action in several NCAA Tournament games came down, pulled up and hit his eighth shot of the game for a 78-77 lead with 1.1 seconds to play, which wasn't an eternity and the Razorbacks picked up their first SEC win of the season.
Mark's shot was the Hogs' sixth field goal of the second half. They attempted 25, shooting just 24% in the second half, but they hit 69.2% of their free throws (18 of 26).
A&M got 23 more shots than Arkansas, made four more than the Hogs, outrebounded them 47-35 but had only five assists and was called for 26 fouls.
The Aggies' charge may have start when Arkansas led 30-10 in the first half and Makhi Mitchell was hit with a technical foul, and Musselman didn't play the senior another second. But that was when the flow began to change and the Aggies outplayed the Razorbacks the last 28 minutes everywhere but the free-throw line.
Still, the Razorbacks, whose NET ranking eased up three spots to No. 110, led for more than 38 minutes and despite making only six field goals in the second half, four by Mark, they moved out of the SEC cellar, leaving only Missouri and Vanderbilt without a league win.