Aggies again had no solutions for Tramon Mark

Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams has to be tired of facing Tramon Mark.

The Arkansas guard in a pair of games against the Aggies in the last four weeks was next to unstoppable offensively. After torching them for 35 points and the game-winning shot in Bud Walton Arena on Jan. 16, he added 26 points on 50% shooting Tuesday in the 78-71 win.

No player was more critical to the Razorbacks completing a regular-season sweep of Texas A&M. Here are his combined stats in the wins:

• 61 points in 76 minutes, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks

• 12 of 25 on two-point attempts

• 4 of 6 on three-point attempts

• 25 of 32 at the free throw line

Mark in the rematch posted a final line of 26 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, which generated 12 points. He’s the first Arkansas player with those figures in a game since Anthony Black against Creighton at the Maui Invitational in November 2022.

The last time Mark had five assists in a game was at Houston in February 2023 against Temple and then-Owls guard Khalif Battle. 

With his father, mother, sister and girlfriend in attendance at Reed Arena, Mark put on a show.

“I was able to get to my spot on certain guys and do what I needed to do to score the basketball,” Mark said. “I feel like I made the right decision for most of the game.”

Following the win, the first for Eric Musselman at Texas A&M, the fifth-year Razorbacks coach said the game plan, especially in the second half, was to run top-of-the-key isolations for Mark. He delivered.

“I played him at the point guard position entirely in the second half. He was the primary ball handler and we had other point guards running ghost screens or in the corner to try to space the floor out and let him go to work,” Musselman added. “And I thought his shot selection was phenomenal.”

Mark knocked down a pair of big second-half threes and several tough two-point jumpers just inside the arc. CBB Analytics shows he is now 20 of 48 (41.7%) on long twos this season.

That is 4.5% above the Division-I average.

Mark’s outing was all the more impressive considering he battled a banged-up shoulder. He once exited the game for treatment and admitted he wasn’t sure if he’d return.

“Quite honestly, we didn’t know if he would practice the last couple of days or play,” Musselman said. “He’s been getting with our trainer. I’m usually one of the first ones in the building now since I work out in there, and he’s been in there a lot of late. He’s playing through pain.

“He’s doing it for the betterment of the team. It’s been bothering him for quite some time.”

Mark’s performances against Texas A&M will bother Williams for a long time, too.