Seton Hall Pirates at Arkansas Razorbacks

Arkansas holds off Seton Hall following final-minute flagrant

Jaylen Barford hit the go-ahead layup with 57.8 seconds left to help Arkansas hold off Seton Hall 77-71 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Barford had 12 of his 20 points after halftime for the Razorbacks (26-9), the No. 8 seed in the South Region. That included his layup off Khadeen Carrington's turnover at the other end, pushing Arkansas ahead for good as the Razorbacks scored the game's final seven points.

The 6-foot-3 junior also came through with a pair of free throws with 18.3 seconds left following a whistle in which officials reviewed Desi Rodriguez's foul to stop the clock and changed it to a flagrant foul.

"I didn't realize how hard I pushed him, but I thought it was a basketball play," Rodriguez said. "It wasn't intentional."

Barford said he was surprised Rodriguez pushed him, while Razorbacks coach Mike Anderson told reporters he agreed with the officials' decision.

"I thought there was no play on the ball," Anderson said. "He pushed the guy."

NCAA national coordinator of men's basketball officiating J.D. Collins said he thought it was the right call. He said the referees called the play as instructed by calling a normal foul then reviewing the play and calling the flagrant.

Collins said incidental contact that caused Barford to trip didn't matter because Rodriguez ran up from behind with two hands on his opponent.

After Barford hit his free throws, Daryl Macon added another to make it 75-71. Carrington missed a 3 at the other end in what amounted to the ninth-seeded Pirates' last gasp.

Macon added two free throws with 9.7 seconds left to seal Arkansas' ninth win in 11 games.

Moses Kingsley scored 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting for the Razorbacks, who shot 47 percent against a defense that had been holding teams to around 43 percent.

Carrington had 22 points to lead the Pirates (21-12), who shot just 38 percent and couldn't hold on to their late lead.

BIG PICTURE

Arkansas: The Razorbacks survived being soundly beaten on the boards (46-32) and did just enough to speed the Pirates up and get the game closer to their preferred pace. They also made 18 of 23 free throws to help prolong their late-season surge.

UP NEXT

Arkansas advanced to Sunday's second round to face the Texas Southern-North Carolina winner.

ESPN's Jeff Goodman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• TV Channel: Seton Hall at Arkansas 2021 College Basketball, week 1, is broadcasted on TNT.
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