FAYETTEVILLE — Mississippi State Coach Rick Stansbury waited all night to see Sonny Weems’ disappearing act.

He went home disappointed.

Stansbury made his respect for Weems abundantly clear after Arkansas’ 6-6 senior swingman scored a team-high 22 points to lead the Razorbacks to a 78-58 victory over the Bulldogs, but he also noted Weems’ tendency to fade from the spotlight. Stansbury pointed to Saturday’s game against LSU, in which Weems scored 19 points in the first half, as an example.

“Then he disappeared,” Stansbury said, referencing the fact that Weems had only two points in the second half. “Georgia, he disappeared the whole game.

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“ Those games when he plays assertive, that’s when they’re at their best. He was assertive tonight every minute he was on the court.”

Weems has been assertive more often than not in SEC play, and he began the night ranked among the league’s top five in scoring, three-pointers, threepoint percentage and free-throw percentage in conference games only. He jump-started Arkansas against Mississippi State, too, scoring 10 points — including a four-point play — in a span of 1: 06 to turn an 11-11 tie into a 21-11 lead the Razorbacks never relinquished.

“When he gets on track like that, it makes everything easier,” sophomore guard Patrick Beverley said. “We just kind of ride him out.... If we can keep him on this same roll and he continues to be consistent, the sky’s the limit for our ballclub.”

Weems, in typically reluctant fashion, admitted to feeling as if he was “in a zone” during his first-half flurry.

“I was hitting my jumper and I was kind of feeling it a little bit, but I didn’t want to rush it,” Weems said. “I just wanted to take what the defense gave me, but I think I had the hot hand a little bit.”

Weems was similarly understated when asked about his emergence as Arkansas’ go-to player.

“I’m not really looking at it as I’m the man. I’m a team player,” Weems said. “Whoever gets it going that night, we try to feed them. I’ve been getting it going the last few nights, and my teammates have done a good job feeding me.”

Weems provided some crucial offense in the second half as well, following his own miss with a short jumper to push Arkansas ’ lead to nine points after Mississippi State had drawn within 43-36 in the opening minutes. Weems added a three-pointer 45 seconds later, and the Bulldogs didn’t get closer than 10 points in the final 11: 23.

Weems helped Arkansas answer that time, too, making another three-pointer for a 55-42 lead. Beverley later fed Weems for a thunderous dunk to make the score 68-52 and all but punctuate the victory with 4: 52 to play.

“Everybody knows he has wings under his shoes. So when you get him the ball, it kind of makes things exciting and makes things easier for yourself,” Beverley said. “That’s what happened tonight.”

Much to Stansbury’s chagrin, it happened from start to finish.