FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey has a holiday message for his players as they prepare for Saturday’s game against Appalachian State at Alltel Arena.

“He said if we don’t get this game, we can cancel Christmas break,” Razorbacks senior forward Sonny Weems said. “So we’re very focused on this game.”

Arkansas has a week between Saturday’s matchup and its next game against Louisiana-Monroe on Dec. 29, so there are a few days for the players to go home for Christmas.

“Coach Pelphrey is a great guy. He doesn’t want to stop us from going home,” Arkansas senior guard Gary Ervin said. “But it’s up to us to play hard so we don’t stop ourselves from missing out on Christmas with our families.

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“ He just wants to make sure we know we’ve got a ballgame to play and aren’t thinking about going home.”

Pelphrey smiled when asked about his no-victory, no-break message to the players.

“Did I say that ?” he said. “I did mention that to those guys. Hey, win. Win. Win.

“ As long as we win, we’ll be all right.”

The Razorbacks (9-2 ) should be fine if they play Saturday as they did in beating Northwestern (La. ) State 90-59 on Wednesday night.

Arkansas still had more turnovers (19 ) than Pelphrey would like, but he was encouraged by their 24 assists and 24 forced turnovers, which both matched season highs.

Pelphrey praised the Razorbacks for “sharing the sugar” and making the extra pass to an open teammate for the best shot possible.

“We’re playing good right now,” said Weems, who had a season-high 21 points against the Demons. “We’re not where we want to be. We can be great.

“ Watching film, we’ve got a lot more improving to do. A lot more.

“ That’s something we’re going to look forward to doing as the season progresses.”

Pelphrey said games around the holidays are important for setting the right tone before conference play starts.

“It’s one of those deals where you’ve got to really focus in. You don’t want anything to slip by the board,” he said. “Maybe all these games are very important to get you to the NCAA Tournament.

“ Maybe they have nothing to do with getting you to the NCAA Tournament, but it almost feels like if you don’t take care of business this time of year, it can be something that keeps you out.”

That’s good motivation, too, but probably not as good as talking of taking away Christmas break if the Razorbacks lose Saturday.

“That’s a real strong message to the team,” Arkansas sophomore guard Stefan Welsh said. “Everybody wants to go home for the holidays and enjoy their families, but we know first we’ve got to care of business.”