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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ defense carried it to another ugly win Saturday evening.

For the third straight time to start the season, the Razorbacks held their opponent under 50 points in a 64-46 win over Montana inside Bud Walton Arena.

It had been 74 years since they last opened a season with three such defensive performances and Arkansas hadn’t held three straight opponents under 50 at any point of the season since February 1984.

“They’ve really bought in to the game plan defensively,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “Hopefully we can keep buying in on a nightly basis, but I think they really like playing defense. I think they’ve really quickly got a grasp of what we’re trying to do defensively.”

Mason Jones led the Razorbacks in scoring for the third straight game, finishing with 19 points on 5 of 13 shooting and a perfect 8 of 8 from the charity stripe. He’s now made 30 consecutive free throws dating back to last season.

The junior guard is now averaging 22.3 points per game, plus he added five rebounds, four assists, four steals and a blocked shot against the Grizzlies.

Although Jimmy Whitt Jr. contributed 14 points and seven rebounds, the other star of the game was Adrio Bailey, who posted the first double-double of his career. In addition to his 12 points, the senior pulled down a career-high 11 rebounds, including five offensive boards.

“I used my athletic ability and my quickness to maneuver around him and try to get some offensive and defensive boards,” Bailey said. “Don't get me wrong, I'm excited that I got (the double-double), but I want it to be the first of many, not just one game.”

Much like earlier in the week against North Texas, Arkansas found itself in a slugfest of a first half. Both teams were shooting 25 percent at one point and the Razorbacks clung to a 14-13 lead after a layup by Sayeed Pridgett.

That was the fourth time in the game’s opening 12 minutes that Montana pulled within one point, but it could never get over the hump. In fact, the Grizzlies went 0 for 4 and had three turnovers with a chance to take the lead in the first half.

Meanwhile, after starting 4 of 16 from the floor, Arkansas heated up and made six of its final 12 shots of the half - including three dunks and two layups. That helped it outscore the Grizzlies 17-5 over the last eight minutes.

Despite shooting just 3 of 13 from three-point range, the Razorbacks led 31-18. It was the third time to open the season they’ve held their opponent under 20 points in the first half, something it hadn’t done in at least 50 years, according to HogStats.com.

Arkansas got off to a slow start in the second half and a quick 6-0 spurt by Pridgett, who was coming off a 30-point effort his last game, got Montana’s deficit to single digits with 12:37 remaining.

That was the bulk of Pridgett’s scoring, as he was just 5 of 12 from the floor and had seven turnovers. Musselman said Whitt, Jones and Joe took turns guarding him and limiting the preseason first-team All-Big Sky selection to the Razorbacks’ goal of 13 points.

They implemented a unique strategy at practice to ensure they knew where Pridgett was at all times, even using suspended forward Reggie Chaney to simulate him on scout team.

“The guys were a little bit tired of hearing it all week since our last game,” Musselman said. “We had a siren go off in all our preparations any time Sayeed Pridgett on the scout team touched the ball, just to make sure we didn’t let a guy who came in here as one if the leading scorers to get clean looks.”

Jones immediately answered with a turnaround jumper at the free throw line to put the Razorbacks up 10, but Kendal Manuel finally connected on a three-pointer to make it a seven-point margin. The Grizzlies had missed their first 10 attempts from beyond the arc.

That proved to be Montana’s last gasp, as Arkansas scored seven straight capped by an Isaiah Joe three-pointer after Jones’ fourth steal of the game to go back up by 14.

Later in the half, Manuel got a decent look from three-point range, but missed it and Bailey pulled down his 11th rebound of the game. Instead of cutting Montana’s deficit to single digits, the Razorbacks went on an 8-0 run to build its largest lead of the night at 20 points.

The Grizzlies were just 2 of 16 from beyond the arc, but that was actually better than what Arkansas was allowing coming into the game. Opponents are now making 10.3 percent (6 of 58) of their three-point attempts this season.

With the win, Musselman becomes the fourth Arkansas coach to begin his tenure 3-0, joining Nolan Richardson (started 5-0 in 1985-86), Eugene Lambert (started 10-0 in 1942-43) and Francis Schmidt (started 3-0 in 1923-24).

The Razorbacks could push it to four straight wins when they host Texas Southern on Tuesday. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m. CT and the game will be streamed on SEC Network-plus, meaning it can be watched online on ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app.