FAYETTEVILLE -- Moses Kingsley put up Bobby Portis numbers to lead Arkansas past Southern University 86-68 in the season opener Friday night in Walton Arena before an announced crowd of 6,603.
With Portis -- last season's SEC player of the year -- in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls, Kingsley is now the Razorbacks' No. 1 big man, and the 6-10 junior put up career highs of 22 points, 12 rebounds, 5 blocked shots and 3 steals in 24 minutes. He made 8 of 8 field-goal attempts, including some jump shots, and 6 of 11 free throws.
"What a performance by Moses Kingsley," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "He just a big-time impact on this game. Our guys can identify we've got a guy that can give us a low-post presence. He's put in some work, and he's gotten better."
Last season Kingsley averaged 3.6 points and 2.5 rebounds in 10.9 minutes when he primarily played if Portis needed break.
"I wouldn't lie, it was a little bit of a surprise," Kingsley said of his performance. "But thanks to my teammates for finding me for the buckets.
"It gives the whole team confidence. Not just me, but everybody."
The Razorbacks need Kingsley to play like he did Friday night with the loss of six of their top seven scorers from last season's 27-9 team. Along with Portis, Arkansas lost guard Michael Qualls, who is now with the Oklahoma City Thunder rehabbing a knee injury.
"He was overshadowed by a couple of pros last year, but you can see he has a lot of ability now that he's the man," Southern Coach Roman Banks said of Kingsley. "I'm not surprised how aggressive he was, but I do give him credit for being a little better than we anticipated.
"He really established himself as a primary scorer. I thought he was able to affect the game on the offensive end and the defensive end."
Kingsley hit two jump shots in the game's first 1:03.
"When he came out and hit his first couple shots, that really got his confidence going," Anderson said. "They were packing in their defense in and left him wide open, and our guys did a good job of getting him the ball."
Kingsley's teammates said he played Friday night like he's been practicing.
"He was super active," said Arkansas junior guard Dusty Hannahs, who scored 21 points. "He was everywhere."
Senior point guard Jabril Durham, who had 10 assists, said Kingsley deserved to have a big offensive game.
"I was happy to see Moses' shots go in from the beginning, because if there's one person that stays in the gym after practice and before, it's Moses," Durham said. "He stays in there and shoots those same shots he made tonight.
Hannahs, who redshirted last year after transferring from Texas Tech, hit 5 of 7 three-pointers in his Arkansas debut.
"He can't really shoot the ball," Banks said. "All he needs is a little space. I think he's going to help their team quite a bit."
Hannahs said he's comfortable being at Arkansas.
"It felt pretty good making shots as a Razorback," he said. "I dreamed of playing here growing up, and being able to do that in front of my family and friends is awesome."
Arkansas senior guard Anthlon Bell scored 14 points, and freshman guard Jimmy Whitt had 12.
Senior guard Christopher Hyder, one of four returning starters for Southern, led the Jaguars with 22 points. Senior guard Adrian Rodgers added 12 points.
"The Razorbacks lost a lot of guys, but their style of play is still pretty tough to play against," Banks said. "I think right out of the gates they did a good job of establishing their defense and made us kind of timid."
Bell's three-point basket put Arkansas ahead 53-33 with 14:33.
The Jaguars refused to fold as they outscored the Razorbacks 23-9 over a 6:13 span -- capped by back-to-back three-pointers by Trelun Banks and Rodgers -- to pull within 62-56 with 7:36 left.
"We were able to make the second half a little more competitive," Banks said. "But the thing about getting down against their ballclub, you can't keep climbing the mountain against these guys because they'll ultimately wear you down."
After the Razorbacks' lead was cut to six points, they responded with a 16-4 run, started by Durham's three-point basket and including six consecutive points by Kingsley, to move ahead 78-60 with 3:37 left.
"It was time to make plays," Kingsley said. "It was no time to panic."
Arkansas won its 42nd consecutive home opener -- including a 23-0 record in Walton Arena -- and 21st season opener in a row.
"It was a good team win," Anderson said. "That first game you don't know how they're going to come out. I'm glad to see that we found a way to finish the game off, and hopefully we can clean up some areas."
The Razorbacks made just 14 of 26 free throws and Southern shot 60.9 percent from the field (14 of 23) in the second half.
"It's just the first game of the season," Kingsley said. "We have a long way to go."
Kingsley looks like he's already come a long way since last season. He credited Portis with helping him.
"It was a privilege playing behind Bobby, watching him every day," Kingsley said. "I'm trying to work as hard as Bobby did.
"It's going to continue helping me the rest of my basketball career."
Sports on 11/14/2015