FAYETTEVILLE — Wofford was looking for a halftime tie and threatening to spoil John Pelphrey’s Arkansas coaching debut, but Darian Townes stepped in and blocked the Terriers’ upset path.

Townes woke up an impatient Walton Arena crowd of 13, 196 Friday night by swatting away a shot, then racing down the floor for a two-handed slam to end the first half and ignite the 19 th-ranked Razorbacks in a 67-45 victory in the season opener.

Arkansas (1-0 ) trailed throughout the first half but kicked it up a notch after taking a 30-26 lead into halftime. It outscored Wofford (0-1 ) 37-19 in the second half.

“We started out tight. We were passive instead of just dominating,” Townes said. “We kind of did that in the second half, pushing the lead up.

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“ We’re ranked, but there’s still a lot of season to go and there’s a lot that we need to work on.”

It wasn’t supposed to be such a sloppy beginning for an Arkansas team expected to not only make a third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance but hang around past the first round with almost every key contributor returning.

But by the game’s first media timeout at the 15: 29 mark, the Razorbacks were 0 for 4 from the field, had committed 3 turnovers and had been charged with 6 team fouls. Wofford led 6-0, highlighted by a press-breaking dunk by Corey Godzkinski.

The Terriers weren’t going to be intimidated by the Razorbacks’ ranking or major-conference roots. Wofford returned three starters who last season played at North Carolina State, Cincinnati (where the Terriers won ), Michigan, Clemson and Auburn.

“I think we may have been a little too jacked up,” Pelphrey said. “I thought tonight we were a little over the mark, and we’ve got to find that magic level.”

Townes came off the bench to give Arkansas the boost it desperately needed. The senior scored his team’s first six points, dunking in two feeds from Sonny Weems and hitting a short jump shot.

He was 6 of 7 from the field and 2 of 2 from the free-throw line with 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 blocks in the first half, when he scored all 14 of his points. The rest of Arkansas’ players combined to make only 5 of 21 field-goal attempts in the first half, including 1 of 10 shots from three-point range.

“He had a fantastic first half. He got us back in the game,” Pelphrey said. “Toward the end of the first half that kind of settled things down defensively and we guarded them a lot better. We kind of got things under control defensively.”

The Terriers worked the first-half clock, trailing by only two points. Townes, 6-10, timed his jump perfectly as 6-2 guard Drew Gibson shot. Townes grabbed the ball after blocking it and, despite having the better ball handler Ervin by his side, finished the dunk himself just before time expired.

“Bad shots and turnovers kill you in this thing,” Wofford Coach Mike Young said. “It was a bad shot, it gets swatted out of there and they finish with a lay-in to go up four. I do think that was a significant play in the scheme of things as it continued at the start of the second half.”

Townes, who relies on his on-court emotion, was critical to the Razorbacks keeping the crowd in the game and Wofford from believing it could pull the upset.

“Things were going well for him. He was feeling it,” said guard Patrick Beverley, who led the Razorbacks with 15 points. “When you’re feeling it and show emotion, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Wofford managed only two points over a span of almost eight minutes from just before halftime to the 13: 51 mark of the second half, when an Arkansas bench technical foul prompted an agitated Pelphrey to remove his jacket, and the Terriers pulled back within 37-32.

The spurt had a short lifespan though. Wofford couldn’t afford four consecutive missed free throws, a shot clock violation, a blown layup and allowing Beverley an uncontested three-pointer for a 44-32 lead with 11: 31 left.