FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas found itself in yet another double-digit deficit Tuesday night, but used a big second half to rally past Mercer in its season opener.
Trailing by as many as 10 in the first half, the No. 16 Razorbacks came out on fire after halftime and eventually went on an 18-3 run to take control of things in a 74-61 win over the Bears inside Bud Walton Arena.
It was the kind of performance last year’s team was known for, as Arkansas went 10-5 in games it trailed by at least 10 points at any point - including all three wins in the NCAA Tournament.
Even with seven new pieces, that trend seems to have carried over to the current iteration of the Razorbacks early on, as they also had to dig out of a 14-point hole against DII East Central in an exhibition game.
JD Notae poured in 30 points, his most in an Arkansas uniform. ACC transfers Au’Diese Toney and Chris Lykes accounted for nearly the rest of the scoring, with the former notching a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds and the latter chipping in 16 points off the bench.
The Razorbacks opened the second half with a quick six points and ultimately needed just a little more than two minutes to regain the lead for what was the first of nine lead changes after halftime.
A corner three by Lykes put Arkansas up for good with 8:43 remaining, as it sparked the aforementioned 18-3 run. The Bears managed just seven points over the final nine minutes of the game.
Here are a few of HawgBeat’s key takeaways from the win…
Notae is more than an elite scorer.
Growing up about 45 minutes away from the campus, Notae regularly attended camps at Mercer when he was in high school. Despite that exposure, the Bears never pulled the trigger on an offer and he ended up at Jacksonville before transferring to Arkansas.
The senior made them pay for that oversight by scoring 30 points on 11 of 26 shooting - including 5 of 14 from beyond the arc. It was the most points he’s scored with the Razorbacks and the most he’s ever scored against a Division I opponent.
“They didn’t offer me coming out of high school, so that was kind of personal,” Notae said. “So this game is kind of personal to me.”
As important as that was, especially with several of his teammates struggling to score, Notae’s biggest impact came on the other end of the floor. His seven steals were the most by an Arkansas player since Ronnie Brewer also had seven against ULM on Dec. 31, 2004.
Six of those steals came after halftime and played a huge role in the Razorbacks’ comeback. Asked about the key to that success afterward, Notae mentioned it went back to preparation. He said he actually knew Mercer’s plays so well that he could beat its players to particular spots.
That didn’t come by accident and could be a trend for him throughout the season, based on what Musselman said in the postgame interview.
“Defensively, the reason he had seven (steals) is, No. 1, he's got great anticipation and is willing to fight through screens,” Musselman said. “But he also knows our game plan. If you ask him what we're doing, he's locked in on our game plan like an NBA player.”
