Hogs struggle, but make it to 5-0
SEC/TOP 25 MEN NO. 25 ARKANSAS 89, NORTH TEXAS 73
FAYETTEVILLE – Arkansas matched its best start in nine seasons Friday night, but it didn’t come easy.
The No. 25-ranked Razorbacks used a career-high 22 points from Michael Qualls to overcame early foul trouble and a cold-shooting first half and pulled away from North Texas 89-73 in front of an announced crowd of 7,353 at Walton Arena.
The last time the Razorbacks started the season with five consecutive victories was the 2006-2007 season when Arkansas was 5-0 before losing 86-64 at Missouri.
Arkansas was last 6-0 in 1997-1998 when the Razorbacks started the season with eight consecutive victories.
“I think they’re a top 10 team,” North Texas Coach Tony Benford said of the Razorbacks. “They are as deep as anybody in the country.”
Arkansas’ depth was needed Friday night.
Bobby Portis, who came in averaging 17.5 points per game, was hit with early foul trouble — including two fouls in the opening three minutes — and finished with six points.
He had four fouls early in the second half and fouled out with 1:03 remaining.
“That’s what we do. When a guy goes out we pick him up,” said Ky Madden, who had 15 points and 7 assists, including 5 assists in the first half. “As a unit we really picked up the slack.”
Portis, who scored his first points on a putback with 15:02 left in the game, hit back-toback shots with just under eight minutes remaining to help ignite an 8-0 Arkansas run, pushing a two-point lead into a 67-58 advantage with 7:18 left.
Four minutes later, the run had grown to 22-5 and Arkansas led comfortably, 81-63.
The Razorbacks were 20 of 25 from the free-throw line and outrebounded North Texas 47-34, including a 21-12 edge offensively.
“When Bobby was out, I just wanted to crash the boards,” said Qualls, who along with Madden and Anthon Bell, combined for 52 points. “Everybody has to step it up when a big piece of your team isn’t out there.”
Arkansas eventually wore down the Mean Green in the second half, Benford said.
“We knew we couldn’t turn the ball over against their pressure,” he said. “We had to take care of the basketball and that kept us in the game in the first half.
“Their pressure just took over in the end and sped us up. And they killed us on the glass.”
Qualls shot 7 of 13, including 4 of 7 from three-point range, and had 9 rebounds. Bell added 15 points, including four three-pointers.
“It’s good to find a way to win when you don’t shoot well and your leading scorer is in foul trouble,” Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said.
North Texas, which had 20 turnovers in a victory over Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday, had only 10 Friday against Arkansas’ pressure defense.
“I’m sure North Texas had this game circled on their calendar,” Anderson said. “They came in here and didn’t back down. We had to end up taking the fight to them.”
The Mean Green (4-2) didn’t look like a team playing their first road game in a back-and-forth first half, which saw Arkansas shoot 13 of 33 (39.4 percent). North Texas had three turnovers in the first half.
North Texas got 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from senior guard Jordan Williams and were 5 of 8 from threepoint range in the opening 20 minutes.
Arkansas used a three-pointer from Qualls, his third of the first half, and the Razorbacks closed out the opening 20 minutes on a 7-2 run to take 38-36 halftime lead.
Arkansas’ largest lead in the first half was three points. The Razorbacks hit 5 of its first 19 shots, including a stretch of 10 consecutive misses.
The Razorbacks host Iona (4-1) on Sunday. The Gaels past three victories were against teams Arkansas has also beaten, including 85-81 over Wake Forest, 126-76 over Delaware State and a 20-point victory against North Texas.