FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas was struggling to hit shots and pull away from Delta State.
Then the Razorbacks got some offense from their defense -- two dunks off steals -- to take control of what became a 74-40 victory over the Statesmen on Tuesday night before an announced crowd of 4,046 in Walton Arena.
It was Arkansas' final exhibition tuneup before the Razorbacks open the regular season against Southern University at 7 p.m. Friday.
"We've got a big task ahead of us," Arkansas senior point guard Jabril Durham said. "We want to show everybody -- really show ourselves -- that this isn't going to be a down year for Arkansas.
"This is a year that we still want to reach our goals."
Junior guard Dusty Hannahs said those goals include a return trip to the NCAA Tournament, even though the Razorbacks don't have any starters back from last season's 27-9 team.
"I think we've got some nice pieces, and now we've got to figure how to play together and play off one another," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "We've got to lean on each other, and everybody's got to do their part."
Arkansas started 3 of 16 from the field and led Delta State 14-12 before the Razorbacks outscored the Statesmen 27-11 the final 11 minutes of the first half to move ahead 41-23.
The Razorbacks' run started with steals by junior guard Manny Watkins and Hannahs, which led to dunks by junior forward Moses Kingsley and sophomore forward Trey Thompson.
Getting higher-percentage shots off their defense, the Razorbacks were 10 of 20 from the field the final 11 minutes of the first half.
"They came out and threw the first punch and our guys responded in a positive way," Anderson said. "Early on we missed a lot of chippie shots, but then our defense got some easy offense for us."
The Razorbacks finished at 41.3 percent from the field [26 of 63] and hit 17 of 20 free throws.
Delta State cut Arkansas' lead 43-32 with 14:04 left on a layup by PJ Davis but the Statesmen couldn't pull any closer.
Hannahs scored 12 consecutive points as the Razorbacks went ahead 68-40 with 4:16 left.
Delta State shot 30.9 percent from the field [17 of 55] and scored one point in the final 11:08.
"Defensively, you can't ask anything better than that," Anderson said. "Fatigue became a factor."
Anderson said the Razorbacks had 39 deflections on defense.
"That tells me we were pretty active," Anderson said. "I thought we disrupted them."
Kingsley led Arkansas with 16 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. He hit 6 of 9 shots and 4 of 4 free throws after being 2 of 10 from the field in last Thursday night's exhibition game against Southwestern Oklahoma State.
"Moses was totally different than he was the other night," Anderson said. "I thought he played with a lot more patience and a little more poise and utilized the size advantage that we had over these guys."
Hannahs scored 15 points and hit 3 of 6 three-pointers. Freshman guard Jimmy Whitt had 14 points for the Razorbacks. Watkins had 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, and Durham had 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.
Arkansas senior forward Keaton Miles shot 1 of 8 from the field but had a team-high nine rebounds.
Durham has 16 assists and 3 turnovers in the 2 exhibition games.
"You've got to remember the competition is really going to step up," Anderson said. "But I think it's an indicator he's playing the game the right way."
Durham has scored five points in the exhibition games while shooting 2 of 5 from the field.
"Being a point guard, I just want to help my teammates," Durham said. "I feel like getting assists makes two people happy. It makes me happy, and it makes the person that scores happy.
"I'd rather make two people happy than one."
Junior guard Devin Schmidt led Delta State -- an NCAA Division II team that's favored to win the Gulf South Conference -- with 16 points.
The Razorbacks improved to 10-0 in exhibition games under Anderson, including their 103-58 victory over Southwestern Oklahoma State.
"We were able to get some guys some playing time," Anderson said. "Hopefully, they'll be ready to jump into the season."
WOMEN’S EXHIBITION
ARKANSAS STATE 79, HARDING 65
JONESBORO — Aundrea Gamble finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in Arkansas State’s exhibition victory over Harding at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro. Gamble was 9 of 9 from the floor and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Khadija Brown-Haywood had 12 points and 19 rebounds. Brittney Gill scored 13 points and had nine rebounds. Harding led 21-18 after the first quarter, but ASU outscored Harding 32-15 in the second quarter to take a 50-36 lead into halftime. The Red Wolves led 69-48 at the end of the third quarter. A’ndrea Haney led the Bisons with 16 points. Lundon Williams scored 12 points, while Sydney Layrock added 10 points.
Sports on 11/11/2015