Razorbacks rout Oral Roberts, 104-69

Arkansas built a 29-point halftime lead and added to it in the second half to rout Oral Roberts by 35 points Tuesday evening in Bud Walton Arena, 104-69.

The Razorbacks, (9-2) used a 22-4 run that lasted 6 minutes and 21 seconds midway through the first half to break the game open with an 18-point lead, 30-12. Thanks to another 14-0 spurt that went down to the final minute of the first half, Arkansas outscored ORU 44-15 the final 15 minutes and 25 seconds and took a 29-point lead into halftime, 52-23.

“Our depth was the difference in the game. Forty-two points coming off the bench, great energy on offense and defense,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “When we play defense, and we did play defense at a high level – deflections, steals, turnovers at a high level - and on top of that we shoot the ball well…It was a pretty good performance under the circumstances, finals, getting ready to go home.”

Combined with a 16-2 run to finish off the first half, Arkansas built that into a 34-9 total streak to make it a 40-point Hog lead, 70-30, with 15:54 to go in the game. In the second half, the Hogs got off to an 18-7 start, capped by a 3-pointer by Jaylen Barford at the 15:54 mark.

“Probably the best team that he’s had in his time here,” ORU coach Paul Mills said of Anderson. “They’re really going to have a chance to compete very well in the SEC, and they’re a really good basketball team...Coach Anderson was nice and took off the pressure. They could have beaten us by 90."

Arkansas must have thought it was a mercy rule and the game was over because after Arkansas went up 40, ORU put together a 9-0 run to get the lead down to 31 points, 70-39, with 13:17 to go on a jumper by ORU's Jontray Harris.

And from the 15:20 mark down to the under-8 timeout with 7:48 to go, ORU outscored the Hogs 20-6 to get the lead all the way down to 26 points. Between the third media timeout down to the last one with 2:27 left, Arkansas edged ORU 19-16 to hold a 29-point lead, 95-66.

UA guard C.J. Jones buried his fifth 3-pointer, and then a put-back from Darious Hall - off a miss by walk-on Jonathan Holmes - gave the Hogs 100 points, 100-66. Holmes later scored on a jumper with 27 seconds left for the final bucket of the game to give Arkansas a 104-69 win.

Barford paced the Razorbacks with 18 points on 8 of 9 shooting, which is notable considering he was coming off a 2 of 11 performance this past weekend in Little Rock in the 88-62 win over Troy. Six total Hogs finished in double figures.

“Just stay aggressive and get my teammates the ball and rebound the ball, do what I can to win,” Barford said. “Last time I got the shots I wanted. I was just missing them, they were coming up short.

Arkansas connected on 41 of 69 shots from the floor (59.4 percent) and 14 of 25 from 3-point range (56.0 percent). Aside from a brief lull after going up by 40 points, the only negative for Arkansas was an 8 of 15 showing from the foul line (53.3 percent).

Emmanuel Nzekwesi led ORU (4-10) with 22 points on 10 of 13 shooting. The Golden Eagles were 29 of 55 on field goals, indcluding 8 of 23 from downtown. They were just 3 of 7 from the foul stripe. ORU led the rebounding battle 34-25, but the Hogs forced in incredible 27 turnovers and gave it up just 9 times.

“I don’t see anybody else playing like we do, fast-paced, getting into the lane, tenacious on defense,” Barford said. “We’re just picking it up on defense, buying into the system.”

FIRST HALF RUNDOWN

The Razorbacks scored the first 4 points, and Anton Beard was off to a hot start with 7 points and already had 5 shots put up. But Arkansas led ORU just 10-8 soon after the first media timeout with 15:43 to play.

After going into the first media timeout timed 8-8, the Razorbacks went on an 11-0 run to go up 19-8 with 12:03 remaining, forcing Baylor into their second timeout. The last Baylor bucket - before a tip-in by Albert Owens and a put-back dunk by Nzekwesi ended the streak to make it 19-12 with 11:33 to go - came on a layup by Chris Miller with 15:55 to go in the first half. It was a span of 3 minutes and 52 seconds.

Arkansas would turn that 11-0 run into a 22-4 race, capping it with back-to-back 3-point buckets by Jones to make it 30-12 with 9:04 remaining in the first half. That made it an 18-point Hog lead. The streak lasted 6 minutes and 21 seconds, from the 15:25 mark until 9:04 remained.

Arkansas wasn’t done. After 5 quick points by ORU to knock the lead down to 15, the Razorbacks came right back with a 14-0 run over a span of 4 minutes and 8 seconds, from the 5:10 mark until the fourth 3-pointer by Jones with 1:02 left. That gave the Hogs a 29-point lead, 50-21, and they took a 52-23 lead into halftime.

Arkansas outscored ORU 44-15 the final 15 minutes and 25 seconds.

UP NEXT

Up next the Hogs will be off for a week before returning to action next Wednesday at 7 p.m. with a game against the California State University, Bakersfield (CSU Bakersfield) Roadrunners (7-6). There were 9,459 in attendance Tuesday.

“It just feels good to go home and see my family," UA freshman forward Daniel Gafford said. "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen them. The person I want to see most is my mom because in the Little Rock game she cried.”

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