Texas A&M expects to have its hands full with Arkansas on Saturday

The basketball landscape in the Southeastern Conference is rife with peaks and valleys.

Arkansas is currently in a valley. The Razorbacks have lost four of their last five games.

Yet, Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams fully expects the Hogs, who have been ranked as high as No. 10, to ascend again.

He’s just hopeful Arkansas (10-4, 0-2) doesn’t begin that climb against the Aggies (12-2, 1-0) in a noon tipoff on Saturday at Reed Arena.

“Arkansas is the most talented team we’ve played,” Williams said on Friday. “A month ago, they were 10th in the country.

“They were preseason Top-20, for sure. Ultra-talented.”

That talent is led by guards JD Notae and Chris Lykes, who average 17.8 and 12.1 points, respectively. Three others average at least 9.9 points.

Talent isn’t the issue. The Razorbacks opened the season ranked 16th and climbed to No. 10 with a 73-67 victory over Cincinnati to cap a 6-0 start.

However, Arkansas dropped from the national rankings with losses to Oklahoma, Hofstra, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt.

Williams warns the Aggies should not overlook Arkansas, though.

“(They’re) The fastest team we’ve played,” Williams said. “Their tempo — pace of play — this week, they’re 17th in the country. They get fouled at a very high rate. That’s a dangerous combination.

“We’ll have our hands full.”

The Aggies appear to have gotten their coach’s message.

“They’re really good in transition,” junior guard Andre Gorgon said. “We need to stop them in transition. Hold them off scoring the ball. I think they score 41 percent of their points in transition. I think we can play them in the half-court really well; slow them down, contest every shot. Just play basketball the way we know how to play.”

Unlike Arkansas, the Aggies might be peaking.

Texas A&M is on a five-game winning streak after defeating Georgia, 81-79, in Athens on Tuesday night.

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Notae leads the Razorbacks with a 17.8 scoring average.

The Aggies continued to shoot well from behind the arc — they’re now 24th in the nation in 3-point accuracy. They also shot 71.4 percent from the free-throw line.

Further, they got a strong effort inside from 6-foot-8 sophomore Henry Coleman III, who scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds.

The Aggies are seeking more consistency from Coleman. His scoring output exceeded the production from the previous three games combined.

“I just think (I must) continue to put pressure on the rim offensively,” Coleman said. “And then defensively, be a pest. Be a guy who’s going to dive on the floor, who’s going to block shots, be willing to take a charge. But also rally the guys around to play the same way and everybody have the same mindset.”

The Aggies seem to be playing with a shared mindset.

They’re passing up good shots to get better shots. They’re playing strong defense and forcing turnovers. A&M is eighth in the nation in forcing an average of 19.1 turnovers per game.

“I hope that we play hard,” Williams said. “I hope we can negate some of what (the Razorbacks) are good at.”