FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas sophomore guard Patrick Beverley’s game Wednesday night was a lot better than his practice earlier in the day.

Beverley said a lackadaisical game-day practice caused Razorbacks Coach John Pelphrey to take him out of the starting lineup when Arkansas returned from an eight-day break to beat Texas-San Antonio 67-42.

Freshman guard Marcus Britt started in place of Beverley, who found himself on the bench for a tipoff for only the second time in 44 games with the Razorbacks.

“I think that’s the most humble thing in basketball, the bench,” said Beverley, a preseason All-SEC first-team choice. “No matter if you play a lot or don’t, the bench kind of hurts.

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“ When I got out there, I wanted to give it my all.”

Beverley finished with a career-high 13 rebounds and added 10 points, 5 assists and 1 steal without a turnover in 29 minutes to help the Razorbacks beat the Roadrunners before 11, 901 fans at Walton Arena.

Arkansas (8-1 ) trailed 9-8 with 13: 56 left in the first half when Beverley and senior guard Gary Ervin entered the game, and they helped fuel a 10-0 run that put the Razorbacks ahead to stay, 18-9.

Beverley didn’t shoot well overall, but he capped the run with a three-point basket. He was 3 of 10 from the field, including 1 of 4 on three-pointers, but made sure to contribute in other areas.

“Shooting and scoring is fickle,” Pelphrey said. “Some nights it just doesn’t go in the basket.

“ But Patrick did a lot of other things that are beneficial to our team.”

Ervin led the Razorbacks with 17 points and senior forward Charles Thomas added 10 points.

Junior forward Travis Gabbidon led UTSA (4-3 ) with 11 points.

Arkansas used runs at the end of the first half (11-2 ) and the start of the second half (16-3 ) to open up a 51-23 lead with 14: 54 left and cruised the rest of the way.

Pelphrey said he wasn’t surprised the 6-0 Beverley had 13 rebounds, which surpassed his previous best of 10 against Vanderbilt.

“I think a lot of times people make a big deal about a guy being a good rebounder because of the size of his body. It has nothing to do with that,” Pelphrey said. “But it does have something to do with size — the size of your heart.

“ Patrick’s got a big heart.”

Thomas said he wasn’t surprised by Beverley’s rebounding numbers, either.

“He’s a hard-playing guy,” Thomas said, “He’ll go in and mix it up with the big guys.”

Sometimes a player with Beverley’s reputation as a scorer will let his entire game slip if he’s not shooting well, but Beverley did not let that happen Wednesday night with his all-around performance.

“I just want to go out there and play hard,” Beverley said. “I want to do everything that’s necessary to make our team better.”

Thomas said Beverley “obviously is buying into Coach Pelphrey’s system of unselfishness.”

UTSA Coach Brooks Thompson said he noticed Beverley wasn’t in the starting lineup.

“I was thinking maybe John was trying to take it easy on us,” said Thompson, who played at Oklahoma State when Pelphrey was a Cowboys’ assistant coach. “But once [Beverley ] got in, he was terrific.

“ I think everybody that plays Arkansas is going to understand Patrick Beverley is a pretty darn good player. When a guard has 13 rebounds, 5 assists and no turnovers, that’s a pretty impressive floor game.”

Beverley sets the tone for the Razorbacks, Pelphrey said, and his attitude is infectious. That’s why Pelphrey felt the need to get Beverley’s attention after he lacked focus in Wednesday’s practice.

“He gets held to a higher standard in terms of what we demand,” Pelphrey said. “He can miss 10 shots in a row as long as he’s being Patrick Beverley and has his hard hat and his lunch pail and his work boots on out there and brings it with his effort and intensity.

“ But with his [lack of ] focus in practice, I had no reservations about not starting him, and I expected him to get his focus back.”

Beverley said he knew he wouldn’t be starting after the way he practiced.

“Coach Pelphrey made the choice not to start me, and I think he made the correct choice,” Beverley said. “It forced me to go out there and play better.

“ This is going to be the only time this happens. It won’t happen again.”