Second-half wonders

UCA puts up fight early, but Arkansas pulls away for 97-60 victory.

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas looked like the nation’s No. 10 team in the second half when the Razorbacks came to life and beat the University of Central Arkansas 97-60 on Wednesday night at Walton Arena.

Arkansas (7-0) put together a dominant half after struggling to a 41-35 halftime lead over the Bears (1-7).

“I don’t want to speak on it,” Razorbacks sophomore guard Davonte Davis said with a smile when asked what Coach Eric Musselman said to the players at halftime. “But he left us with some motivational words, and you saw we came out with an edge and we got the job done.”

Arkansas outscored UCA 56-25 in the second half when the Razorbacks held the Bears to 33.3% shooting (9 of 27).

“Night and day the way we played from one half to the other,” Musselman said. “I probably was as frustrated as I’ve been in the first half. The second half, very happy with how we played.”

Senior guard Stanley Umude led Arkansas with 17 points and eight rebounds. Davis had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.

Senior forward Au’Diese Toney finished with 16 points

after having two in the first half.

“At halftime, I told Au’Diese, ‘You’ve got about a minute and a half,’ ” Musselman said. “That’s 90 seconds to play, because I didn’t think he gave us much of anything in the first half.

“I thought he came out and attacked the rim as if he did not want to come out of the game.”

UCA made 2 of 11 on three-pointers in the second half after being 7 of 10 in the first half.

“Hand in the eyeball, that’s what we have to do,” Davis said of the Razorbacks’ improved second-half defense. “[Musselman] told us that in the locker room at halftime, and we made sure we did it.

“They shot really well from the three-point line in the first half. That was something that we didn’t really know that they could do because they only make five a game.

“So it was kind of shocking that they actually were making shots with our hands in their face. We had to make sure we ran them off the three-point line in the second half.”

Arkansas finished with 16 steals and forced 25 turnovers.

In the second half, the Razorbacks had 15 assists and 5 turnovers after having 7 of each in the first half.

“I thought we tried to make way too many home run plays in the first half, and I thought we settled down in the second half,” Musselman said. “We end up with 22 assists to 12 turnovers, which is a good ratio. The halftime ratio was not good enough.”

Bears Coach Anthony Boone said Arkansas refocused its defense in the second half, but that his players also had a different mindset after playing the Razorbacks close.

“The difference was our approach,” Boone said. “I think our guys got a little satisfied with having a great half against a great team.”

UCA shot 46.8% (13 of 28) in the first half, but the Bears missed some point-blank layups.

“If we could have got those back, it may have been tied or we could have had a lead at the half,” Boone said. “We had a great half of basketball, it’s just we’ve got to do something to break through that ceiling of 20 minutes.”

Arkansas senior guard JD Notae had 10 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals and senior guard Chris Lykes had 9 points and 5 assists.

Sophomore forward Jaylin Wiliams had a career-high 13 rebounds for the Razorbacks along with 8 points and 2 assists.

“The thing about Jaylin is he just does what you’re supposed to do to win,” Musselman said. “It seems like he’s just oblivious to his stat line.

It seems like he’s just doing whatever helps Arkansas.

“That’s how he plays and it’s so evident to friends or people that are in the industry that watch him. He’s just a winning player. There’s no agenda. It’s all about, ‘What’s my role? What am I supposed to do? What are my assignments?’

“Then he goes out and executes them. If everybody did that, we would not have halves like we did tonight.”

Collin Cooper, a freshman guard from Fayetteville, scored 13 points for the Bears before fouling out with 8:51 left.

“It doesn’t take much for Collin to get excited,” Boone said. “He seems to get that way when he gets out of bed. But he was excited about this game, and I’m glad he came out and played well.”

UCA forward Darious Hall, a redshirt junior from Little Rock who played at Arkansas as a freshman, had 12 points.

Freshman guard Camren Hunter of Bryant also had 12 points.

Arkansas opened the second half on an 11-0 run to take a 52-35 lead with 18:07 left on Toney’s layup after a steal by Notae.

“We came into halftime knowing we hadn’t played our best basketball and knowing we can do better,” Williams said. “So coming out in the second half, we wanted to do better at the small stuff — run harder, play harder and get the loose balls.”

The Razorbacks hit 5 of 6 free throws in the second half after being 8 of 20 in the first half.

“I think we shot so good and in pregame we probably ran out of bullets at the freethrow line,” Davis said with a smile. “But we shot wonderful free throws in pregame, and then the first half was just terrible, but it’s fine. We’re just going to continue to work.”