The SEC Network chose not to televise this on any of their channels, and UA apparently isn't able to mobilize their streaming ability off campus, so the only people who saw this game were the poor souls in central Arkansas.
That's for the best. From what I could see from the Twitter updates and the stat sheets, this was by far the worst game Arkansas has played over the last few weeks. The final score doesn't appear to be that unusual on the surface, but both teams scored double digits in overtime to give it that respectable look.
Both teams shot on the bad side of 40%. The score was just 8-7 after 10 minutes. Both teams made 24 field goals and made 11 free throws. Mercer just made three more threes than Arkansas did. That's the difference.
It was a remarkably even game although it didn't look like it would be. Arkansas had a small lead in the beginning of the second half, but Mercer went on an 18-0 run to take a 13-point lead with 9:36 to go, but Arkansas immediately ripped off a 20-5 run of their own to take the lead back with a few minutes left. The game stayed close from that point on.
Dusty Hannahs, Moses Kingsley, and Anthlon Bell were in double figures as usual, scoring 10, 18, and 16 points respectively. But they got little help. Jimmy Whitt scored 2 points on 1-for-6 shooting. Jabril Durham was also 1-for-6 but finished with 5 points. Keaton Miles was 1-for-5 for 4 points.
Arkansas' top scorer behind the top three was Anton Beard with 6 points. Beard played off the bench for 18 minutes in his first game back.
Possibly the most frustrating thing has to be that Mercer really only had three scorers. Jestin Lewis, Stephon Jelks, and Demetre Rivers combined for 56 of Mercer's 69 points. Nobody else scored more than five points. Mercer improved to 8-2 on the year.
As for the Hogs, they have one more game at home in Fayetteville before the schedule begins to be really difficult. They face North Florida on the 22nd, and then they're off until traveling to Dayton on the 30th and to Texas A&M on the 2nd to begin SEC play.
