Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' 72-64 win over Kansas State

Kansas State made it interesting, but clutch free throws down the stretch helped Arkansas remain undefeated Monday night.

The No. 13 Razorbacks didn’t make a shot from the floor over the final four minutes, but they used stall ball - coupled with Chris Lykes’ efficiency at the line - to hang on for a 72-64 win over Kansas State in the Hall of Fame Classic.

Despite the margin tightening up, Arkansas never trailed and led for all but 42 seconds inside the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., so head coach Eric Musselman was still pleased with the result.

“It’s hard to beat a Big 12 team by eight points and to control the game for 39 minutes and 18 seconds,” Musselman said. “I mean, we controlled the game from start to finish and that’s really hard. It’s hard to play with a big lead.”

The game looked like it might turn into a rout, as the Razorbacks steadily built up their lead in the first half and took a 42-24 lead into halftime.

However, that proved not to be the case. Kansas State chipped away at the deficit, which never got larger than 18, and managed to cut it to single digits with 8:37 remaining.

Players on both teams said the Wildcats came out much more physical after halftime and Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said they emphasized getting the ball inside. That was reflected in the box score, with Kansas State scoring 22 in the paint in the second half, compared to just 12 in the first half.

“They were trying to ice stuff really high and we just took advantage of it and drove hard to the basket,” Kansas State guard Nijel Pack said. “I felt like first half we kind of overthought things, we tried to make things a little more complicated than they were. The second half we came out aggressive, we punched back and we fought. We were able to get it close, but just a little too late.”

Pack knocked down a 3-pointer with 54.8 seconds left to pull the Wildcats within 66-60, but that was as close as they got.

The disappointing finish to the game put a damper on Arkansas improving to 4-0 and advancing to the championship game of the event - against Cincinnati, which beat Illinois in the first game - but Musselman was just happy that his team came away with the victory.

“Cincinnati came running down that hallway after they beat Illinois,” Musselman said. “They felt incredible about themselves and I just told our team, we’ve got to feel good, too. We won a game against a Big 12 team, and it’s a really, really good win.”

Here are a few other key takeaways from the win over Kansas State on Monday…

Stall Ball

In what has become a staple of the Musselman era, the Razorbacks took the air out of the basketball late in the game. That stalling tactic clearly hurt their offensive rhythm, as they were just 3 of 14 from the floor over the game’s final 10 minutes, but their third-year coach is a firm believer in the math that says stall balls makes it incredibly difficult for the other team to rally.

That likely contributed to Kansas State cutting what was a 13-point lead to six, but that came with less than a minute remaining and the Wildcats were forced to go into foul mode.

“They fought back and they scrapped,” Musselman said, “but I thought we did a good job from the 10-minute mark on down utilizing clock management to the point that even if we didn’t score, it was going to be hard for them to overcome the lead we had.”