FAYETTEVILLE -- It took longer than the Arkansas Razorbacks wanted, but they have back-to-back victories for the first time this season.
The Razorbacks beat Tennessee Tech 83-57 on Saturday night in Walton Arena before an announced crowd of 6,842 after an 89-76 victory over Evansville on Tuesday night.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said it was a nice way to celebrate his 56th birthday.
"Everybody that came to the game tonight was at my birthday bash," Anderson said. "The most important thing is we got the win. I like where our team is going. They're trending in the right direction."
Arkansas (5-4) finally broke its win one, lose one pattern that started with a victory over Southern University and a loss to Akron. The Razorbacks then beat Charleston Southern but followed with losses to Georgia Tech and Stanford. A third victory, over Northwestern State, led to a loss at Wake Forest.
Now, two in a row.
"It's big giving Coach a birthday present," Razorbacks senior guard Anthlon Bell said. "We wanted him to have a good night, so we came out and played hard for 40 minutes and did what we had to do."
Bell and junior guard Dusty Hannahs scored 21 points each to lead Arkansas. They combined to make 7 of 13 three-point baskets, with Bell 4 of 7 and Hannahs 3 of 6.
Razorbacks junior forward Moses Kingsley had 10 points and career highs of 13 rebounds and 8 blocked shots.
"I thought Moses' energy was kind of contagious through our team," Anderson said. "Other guys just got active. He not only blocked the shots, but we came up with the loose balls."
Sophomore forward Trey Thompson had career highs of 10 points, 7 points and 26 minutes for the Razorbacks, and senior guard Jabril Durham had 10 assists
The Razorbacks' bench players outscored the Evansville and Tennessee Tech bench players by a combined 78-9.
"Everybody's playing at an extremely high level," Bell said. "Everybody's coming out and doing their part. Nobody's worried about scoring or getting touches. Everybody's just worried about getting stops and getting a good shot on offense."
Arkansas stopped Tennessee Tech's six-game winning streak.
"That team is good," Golden Eagles Coach Steve Payne said. "They've played an incredibly tough schedule. Even their guarantee games, Southern's beaten two power teams and Evansville's going to beat a lot of people."
Southern has beaten Mississippi State, Tulane and Wyoming since opening with an 86-68 loss to the Razorbacks.
"Mike does such a good job," Payne said. "They imposed their will on us."
Tennessee Tech (7-3) shot 33.9 percent (20 of 59) from the field.
"I think their pressure and their intensity had something to do with how bad we played on offense," Payne said. "They had the majority to do with that."
The Razorbacks took control in the first half when they outscored the Golden Eagles 17-0 over a 5:21 span -- including eight points by Thompson -- to push their lead to 38-17.
Tennessee Tech missed five consecutive shots and had four turnovers while going scoreless for 5:57 during Arkansas' run.
"We get rebounds and we're gone," Kingsley said. "That's part of our offense We get blocked shots, and that's part of our offense. That's how we have fun."
Tennessee Tech senior forward Ryan Martin, who averages 14.1 points and 8.4 rebounds, picked up his third foul with 5:54 left in the first half and went to the bench with Arkansas leading 25-17.
"They did a good job going at him," Payne said of Martin's foul problems. "That hurt us, him not being in the game. He's kind of our engine and our best competitor. He didn't have a great game, but he's a guy who can make plays out there."
Martin finished with 6 points and 7 rebounds in 24 minutes. Senior guard Torrance Ryan led Tennessee Tech with 17 points.
Arkansas held Tennessee Tech 26.8 points under the Golden Eagles' scoring average of 83.8 and led 40-21 at at halftime.
"We wanted to make them pay for pressing," Payne said. "We did in the first minute of the game, made a couple of shots.
"After that we didn't hit one all year, or the rest of the game. Even when their press wasn't effective, their tempo kept us out of rhythm and we certainly didn't execute anything offensively.
"They just had us a little rattled."
Arkansas shot 50 percent (31 of 62) and had 21 assists.
"That's sharing the rock, that's sharing the love," Anderson said. "I think most good teams have those kinds of players."
Arkansas improved to 58-1 in its past 59 games in Walton Arena against unranked nonconference teams -- including 44-1 under Anderson -- with the loss coming to Akron.
"I want to win every game," Anderson said. "But when you have a game on your birthday and win, that's a nice gift."
Sports on 12/13/2015