Hogs cruise to victory at Auburn, 79-68
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Arkansas won its fifth game in-a-row and continued its undefeated 5-0 streak in Auburn Arena with a 79-68 victory in front of 8,098 in attendance Saturday night.
The Razorbacks (22-7, 11-5 SEC) have now won 9 of their last 11 road games, which includes losses only at Kentucky, at Oklahoma State and at Missouri.
The last time the Hogs trailed in this one, it was 28-27 with 4:39 to play in the first half. Auburn (17-12, 6-10 SEC) went completely dry from the floor from the 3 minute mark of the first half until 18:05 was left in the game, nearly 5 minutes. The Hogs outscored the Tigers 10-1 during that time and never relinquished the lead. Arkansas led by 13 points 6 different times in the second half and led by as many as 15 points, 79-64, with 1:17 to play.
Jaylen Barford led the Razorbacks with 20 points on 7 of 17 shooting and also had 4 rebounds. Moses Kingsley was in foul trouble all night and only played 8 minutes, but Trey Thompson filled in well with 6 points and a career high 11 rebounds in 29 minutes.
The Hogs were 29 of 58 shooting (50 percent), 5 of 17 from 3-point range (29.4 percent) and 16 of 20 from the foul line (80 percent). Arkansas out-rebounded Auburn 41-33, and that led to a 17-9 advantage on second chance points. Arkansas also led 35-24 in the paint and 27-18 off the bench.
Jared Harper led the Tigers with 17 points, and the Auburn was just 23 of 62 from the floor (37.1 percent), 10 of 24 from beyond the arc (41.7 percent) and 12 of 23 (52.2 percent) from the line.
Second Half, Key Moments
A drive by Mustapha Heron with 18:05 to play in the game ended a drought from the field for Auburn that lasted 4 minutes and 55 seconds. Arkansas had outscored the Tigers during that time 10-1. The Hogs led by a game high 13 points, 44-31, before Heron's bucket.
With 16:22, Kingsley committed his third foul and exited the game. Arkansas still had a 54-47 lead with 12:37 to play, but Auburn was certainly leading with the officials. Already in the second half, Arkansas had 8 fouls called against them compared to just 1 for Auburn.
At the third second half media timeout with 7:50 to play, Arkansas had an 11-point lead, 65-54. The closest Auburn got it in the second half at the time was 6 points when it was 55-49 with 10:51 left.
The Hogs were holding onto a 71-61 lead with 3:58 left after the final media timeout of the game on a pair of free throws by Barford, who had 18 points at that time.
First Half, Key Moments
With 17:01 remaining, Kingsley was hit with his second foul. Auburn went up 8-3 at that point and Kingsley was subbed out for Thompson. Right after the first media timeout, a little late with 14:11 to play in the half, Arkansas made it a 1-point game, 10-9.
With 11:30 to play, Arkansas took its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by Daryl Macon to make it a 16-14 Razorback lead. A 7-0 run over a minute and 20 seconds gave the Hogs an 18-14 lead with 11 minutes to go.
From the 13:03 mark when it was a 14-11 Auburn lead, Arkansas outscored Auburn 16-9 to take a 27-23 lead and forced an Auburn full timeout with 6:29 to play.
After Auburn took a 1-point lead, 28-27 with 4:39 to play, Arkansas outscored Auburn 12-4 and made 5 of the last 7 field goal attempts to take a 40-31 lead at halftime. The Hogs held Auburn scoreless on field goals the final 3 minutes of the half, allowing just 1 point. It was a 7-1 finish for the Hogs.
Arkansas was 16 of 33 from the floor ((48.5 percent), 3 of 11 from 3-point range (27.3 percent) and 5 of 8 from the free throw line. Arkansas never made it to the bonus. Barford led Arkansas with 10 points, and Kingsley played just the first 2 minutes and 59 seconds.
Auburn was 11 of 28 from the floor (39.3 percent), 5 of 11 from downtown (45.5 percent) and 4 of 8 from the free throw line. The Razorbacks led Auburn with a 21-17 rebounding advantage.
Up Next...
Up next, the Razorbacks head to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators (23-6, 13-3 SEC) for a 6 p.m. (CST) game on Wednesday. The game will be televised by ESPN2.