March Madness 2022: Razorbacks return to Sweet 16 with win over Aggies

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Arkansas’ Eric Musselman leaned heavily on his NBA coaching days of having to defend Kobe Bryant in devising a plan for how to keep New Mexico State’s Teddy "Buckets" Allen in check.

And it was only fitting to Musselman that swingman Au’Diese Toney — the player he counted on most to contain Allen — capped the decisive run with a one-handed, fast-break dunk with about six minutes left to launch the fourth-seeded Razorbacks (27-8) into the Sweet 16 for a second consecutive year following a 53-48 win over the No. 12-seeded Aggies on Saturday night.

"That was perfect," Musselman said of Toney converting Davonte Davis’ long pass with a soaring slam to put Arkansas up 41-33 in a tightly contested defensive struggle. "For him to be rewarded with basically the exclamation point after everything that he had done defensively."

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Arkansas guard Davonte Davis, left, and guard Au'Diese Toney celebrate during the second half of the team's college basketball game against New Mexico State in the second round of the NCAA men's tournament Saturday, March 19, 2022, in Buffalo, N.Y.  (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

In scoring just seven points, Toney was pleased to do his part on defense. Allen finished 5 of 16 for 12 points, two days after scoring 37 in the Aggies' first-round win over No. 5 seed Connecticut.

"The man can play ball," Toney said of Allen. "My mindset was just to keep him under control and not let him get loose, and my guys — I couldn’t do it without my guys, you know?"

JD Notae scored 18 points and nabbed nine steals before fouling out with 1:22 left, and Jaylin Williams had 10 points and 15