The Arkansas Razorbacks dominated for 40 minutes in an 82-57 in-state win over the Central Arkansas Bears on Saturday at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock.
Fresh off a win over No. 14 Michigan at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Tuesday, the Razorbacks shots 60.0% from the field and out-rebounded the Bears, 36-22. Arkansas scored 44 points in the paint, logged 23 assists and had nine blocks as a team.
Six different Razorbacks scored double-digit points, including forward Trevon Brazile, who logged 11 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. Freshman guard Boogie Fland added a team-high 16 points, nine assists, five rebounds and five steals.
UCA was held to a 25.0% mark from behind the arc and it shot 33.3% as a team from the field. The Bears were out-scored by 26 points in the paint and they had zero fastbreak points compared to 21 by the Razorbacks.
Straight from the jump, the Razorbacks clearly had an advantage in every aspect of the game. The Hogs made nine of their first 11 shots and three of the starters — Fland, Brazile and Jonas Aidoo — already had at least six points each.
Arkansas' lead grew to 25-12 by the under-12 minute media timeout, which was preceded by a Brazile block on Farmington (Ark.) native Layne Taylor, who finished with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field.
While the Razorbacks weren't seeing much fall through the hoop over the next stretch of play, the same could be said for UCA, which started 2-for-10 from three to trail 33-17 by the 7:30 mark in the first half.
Aidoo slammed home his fifth dunk of the day to reach 10 points and give the Hogs a 40-23 lead just before the final media break of the first half. By that point, Arkansas was 8-for-9 as a team on shots at the rim.
Arkansas grew the lead to 46-28 by the halftime buzzer. Fland led all scorers with 13 points at the break and the Razorbacks were shooting 67.9% from the field compared to 33.3% by the Bears at that point.
The Razorbacks began the second half out-scoring the Bears by five before the first media break in play. Freshman Billy Richmond III logged his first bucket of the game at the 13:52 mark to put the Hogs up by 25 points, 60-35.
Guard D.J. Wagner's third made 3-pointer of the game went down at the 10.5-minute mark, and Aidoo made the lead 31 (71-40) with a jumper shortly after. Despite leading by 29, the Hogs committed their fourth foul on a 3-point shooter at the 7:32 mark, which gave fans one of a few things to complain about from this one.
The Hogs cracked 80 points just before the final media break of the half, as they led 80-49 with the final outcome not in question. By the 2:03 mark, the head coach John Calipari subbed in reserve guard Kareem Watkins, a 5-foot-8 graduate senior out of Camden, New Jersey. The rest of the reserves hit the hardwood shortly after.
Freshman Karter Knox knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:23 left on the clock and those marked the final points for the Razorbacks, who finished with a 82-57 win.
Up next, the Razorbacks will get one week of rest before they host North Carolina A&T at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville next Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. CT tipoff at SEC Network.
