Tennessee Volunteers at Arkansas Razorbacks

Macon, Barford lead Arkansas past No. 19 Tennessee in OT

None of those reasons meant as much to Macon as the environment in Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.

When Arkansas' lead grew to as many as 12 points in the overtime period, even Macon took a moment to soak in the raucous atmosphere from the 18,696 fans in Bud Walton Arena.

"I came back for this, a sold-out crowd at 12 p.m.," Macon said. "That's crazy."

Macon and Barford combined to score 61 points for the Razorbacks, who are all but assured of the school's first national ranking in nearly three years with the victory. Arkansas was last ranked near the end of the 2014-15 season, and it's been 26th in each of the last two weeks in The Associated Press poll.

The Razorbacks have won six straight games, none in as emotional a fashion as Saturday.

"Those guys, they have the confidence to go out and make plays," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "... It's good when you can have guys who can make plays, it makes a big, big difference."

Jordan Bone scored 21 points to lead the Volunteers (9-3, 0-1) and James Daniel III had 17. Admiral Schofield added 16 points before fouling out, while Grant Williams had 12 and Lamonte Turner 10 in the loss.

Arkansas took its first lead of the game at 73-72 in the final minute of regulation on a dunk by freshman Daniel Gafford, who finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and five blocks.

Tennessee led by nine points with 3:53 remaining in regulation, but it was outscored 12-3 in the closing minutes. That stretch included a sequence where Macon hit a 3-pointer, Barford stole the inbounds pass and Gafford immediately scored to close within 70-67.

"I didn't think we handled the ball as well as I know we're capable of in the backcourt," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. "We felt any time we got into the halfcourt, we could get whatever we wanted."

The Volunteers nearly recovered from a 12-point overtime deficit when they cut Arkansas' lead to two in the closing seconds, but Macon hit 6 of 6 free throws in the extra period to help seal the remarkable comeback.

RIGHT AT HOME

BIG PICTURE

Tennessee: The Volunteers dominated throughout regulation and led 70-61 with 3:53 remaining after two free throws by Schofield. However, Arkansas' closing run and overtime surge kept Tennessee from winning its fifth game away from home over a Power 5 conference team this season.

UP NEXT

Tennessee hosts Auburn on Tuesday.

The Razorbacks are at Mississippi State on Tuesday.

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More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25

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Follow Kurt Voigt on Twitter at (at)Kurt-Voigt-AP

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