FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ Charles Thomas has scored more points than he did Wednesday night against Missouri. He’s pulled down more rebounds, too.

Thomas might never have shown more heart, though, than he did during Arkansas’ 94-91 gutcheck of a victory at a revved-up Walton Arena.

“I just thought he had a real warrior-type attitude tonight,” Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey said of Thomas, the Razorbacks’ 6-8 senior forward. “You could just see his will tonight, and that was impressive.”

Thomas, in typical fashion, deflected credit to his teammates for putting him in good positions to produce. He also credited Pelphrey for motivating a six-man senior class that has had its physical and mental toughness questioned more than once.

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“Everybody’s doubting our heart. Everybody’s doubting our toughness,” Thomas said. “It’s not just here, it’s across the nation, so right now we have to make a statement one game at a time.”

If Thomas’ game against Missouri was a statement, it ended with an exclamation point. He finished with 21 points — two shy of a career high — on 8-of-13 shooting, and added 8 rebounds with 3 assists and 1 steal in 28 minutes.

Thomas was at his best in the second half, particularly during a 12-0 run that allowed Arkansas to turn a 68-63 deficit into a 75-68 lead. Thomas scored twice in the lane and also took one of four charges during that stretch.

Thomas added eight more points as the Razorbacks withstood a furious rally by the Tigers in the closing minutes. Thomas had a hand in the final play, as well, holding his ground without fouling as Missouri’s Darryl Butterfield put up a desperation three-pointer that missed badly at the buzzer.

Pelphrey commended Thomas for also making numerous plays that don’t show up on a stat sheet, especially while trying to help Arkansas break Missouri’s relentless pressure defenses.

“There was so much heat put on Charles just from a handling and passing standpoint because the ball goes back to him a lot on our press-breaker,” Pelphrey said. “I thought he did a great job attacking and he made some big shots.”

Pelphrey even found a silver lining in Thomas’ four turnovers, a total actually lower than the six he committed in Arkansas’ victory over Delaware State on Saturday.

“He turned it over four times, but you know what ? He was being aggressive,” Pelphrey said. “It wasn’t like the other night where he was flinging the ball all over the place and people in the first row were in jeopardy of getting hurt.

“ Tonight he was aggressive, he was attacking, and if we were going to go down, we were going to go down swinging.”

In other words, Thomas and Co. were determined to play with heart.