FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas asserted its dominance in the second half of a blowout win over Central Arkansas on Wednesday night.
After a sloppy first half, the No. 10 Razorbacks out-scored the Bears by 31 after halftime en route to an easy 97-60 victory inside Bud Walton Arena.
It was a one-possession game for much of the early going, with UCA actually taking the lead a couple of times, before an ugly half that featured a combined 18 turnovers, 12 missed layups, 5 jump balls and 10-of-24 at the free throw line mercifully ended with Arkansas up by six.
The Razorbacks blew it open immediately after halftime, making their first five shots and scoring 11 points within the first two minutes of the half. They never looked back after that, covering the 33-point spread with room to spare.
“Night and day the way we played from one half to the other,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “I probably was as frustrated as I’ve been in the first half. The second half, very happy with how we played.”
Playing its first home game as an AP top-10 team since the 1994-95 season, Arkansas improved to 7-0 for the third straight year under Musselman. UCA dropped to 1-7 with an average scoring margin of minus-23.5.
Here are several key takeaways from the Razorbacks’ blowout win over the Bears…
Relentless Defense
One thing Musselman identified as a weakness of Central Arkansas during the scouting process was ball security. In fact, the Razorbacks were so confident they could exploit that area, they set a goal to force at least 18 turnovers.
They flew past that goal Wednesday, as the Bears turned it over 25 times. That matched the most Arkansas has had during the Musselman era, tying its total against Mississippi State last year, and they led to 29 points for the Razorbacks.
“I think our guards did a really good job of putting pressure on their guards,” Jaylin Williams said. “One of our things, one of our focuses for the bigs, was putting pressure on the guy up top in the middle so we wouldn’t allow that high-post catch, and I feel like that’s what we did.”
Included in that total was a whopping 16 steals, Arkansas’ most in a single game in nearly eight years. That contributed to the Razorbacks getting out in transition and scoring 32 fast break points - their most under Musselman.
Overall, the third-year coach was really pleased with his team’s use of active hands.
“One of the things we keep talking about is jabbing at the ball,” Musselman said. “Don’t - (as) we call it - fly an airplane. Don’t have your hands out (to the side). This does nothing.”
