Jaylin Williams scored 13 points with 16 rebounds as No. 23 Arkansas held on for a 58-48 victory over No. 16 Tennessee in a matchup of top four Southeastern Conference teams Saturday at Fayetteville, Ark.
Williams delivered his ninth double-double of the season, while JD Notae also scored 13 points as the Razorbacks (21-6, 10-4 SEC) moved into a tie for third place in the conference with the Volunteers (19-7, 10-4) by winning for the 11th time in their last 12 games.
Tennessee lost for the first time in SEC play since Jan. 15 when they were drubbed at Kentucky. The Volunteers saw their five-game winning streak come to an end.
Tennessee was up 41-40 with 8:19 remaining before Devo Davis hit a corner 3-pointer to ignite 11-3 spurt that gave the Razorbacks a 51-42 lead with 5:17 left in the game.
Arkansas was up 51-44 entering the final minute and assumed their largest lead when Davis hit one of two free throws with 6.6 seconds remaining to end the scoring.
The game was a defensive struggle with Tennessee shooting only 27.1 percent from the field and Arkansas 30.5 percent.
Both teams also saw their top scorers hampered by foul troubles.
Notae, No. 3 scorer in the SEC with an 18.8-point average entering the day, played only 24 minutes after picking up two early fouls. He fouled out with just over three minutes left.
Tennessee’s top three scorers, Santiago Vescovi (13.8 points), Kennedy Chandler (13.3), and Josiah-Jordan James (8.8) all picked up their fourth personals with well over seven minutes to go. Chandler finished with 11 points, James had eight and Vescovi had seven.
Zakai Zeigler led the Vols in scoring with 12 points.
The shooting woes started early for both teams. Tennessee made only one of its last 10 field goal attempts to finish the first half 7 of 26 from the field (26.9 percent), while Arkansas made only two of its last 13 attempts to end up 8 of 32 (25.0 percent).
–Field Level Media
