FAYETTEVILLE — It was far from perfect, but Arkansas coasted to a 99-82 win over Missouri Southern to open the exhibition season on Friday night.
The visitors from Joplin, Mo., gave the Hogs a good challenge, but the Razorbacks' size, led by true freshman Bobby Portis and veterans Coty Clarke and Alandise Harris helped the Razorbacks win easily.
Portis started and scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in his first collegiate game, although exhibition games are not official. The Little Rock native had 11 points and 10 rebounds in the first half alone and did not play for much of the second half. Most of Portis' points came in a scoring flurry late in the first half to push an 8-point Arkansas lead to 57-37 at the break.
Clarke did not miss a shot, going 4-for-4 from the field and 6-for-6 at the line to finish with 14 points. He threw down a monstrous alley-oop dunk late in the game to push Arkansas' lead to 90-66.
The Hogs' largest lead would eventually grow to 96-71 with 2:44 to play, but by that time Coach Mike Anderson had removed most of the Razorbacks' key scorers from the game. The Hogs were held short of 100 points, much to the consternation of the estimated crowd of just more than 5,000.
Harris tallied 6 points in the opening minutes and also sat out much of the second half, finishing with 10 points and 4 rebounds. Other Razorbacks in double figures included Anthlon Bell (13 points) and Kikko Haydar (11).
The Razorbacks shot 57 percent from the floor in the first half, including hitting 5 of 12 shots from beyond the arc. The second half numbers dipped to 33 percent (11 of 33).
Junior guard Rashad Madden did not play after he was suspended for three games (including the season opener next week) by Anderson for a violation of team rules. He sat on the bench with the team. His presence was missed, as the Hogs had 17 turnovers and suffered through shaky guard play at times. Senior Rickey Scott started in his place, and had 7 points in the first half, but also turned it over four times without an assist.
The new official emphasis on the hand-check rule reared its head in the game, as Missouri Southern committed 29 fouls, paving the way for the Razorbacks to hit 26 of 37 free throw attempts. Arkansas, in turn, committed 17 fouls, putting the Lions at the line 23 times. No Razorbacks fouled out, but Kikko Haydar recorded four fouls in 19 minutes on the floor.
The Razorbacks looked much better rebounding than they did last season, recording 48 rebounds, including 22 on the offensive end. Missouri Southern was also active, collecting 15 offensive boards.
The Hogs out-rebounded the Lions 48-35. Portis led the team with 12, Moses Kingsley had 7, and Clarke finished with 6.
Arkansas has another exhibition game next Tuesday against Northeastern State before opening up the regular season next Friday with a home game against SIU-Edwardsville.