HOUSTON -- Arkansas senior Moses Kingsley met Jarrett Allen at the rim midway through the first half, blocking the Texas freshman's dunk attempt.
Allen paid Kingsley back in the second half, finishing a similar play with a resounding dunk over the preseason SEC player of the year.
The two traded highlight plays throughout the afternoon, but Kingsley had the better finish to key Arkansas' 77-74 victory in the Lone Star Shootout.
"I thought Moses made his statement in the second half," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said.
Kingsley scored only seven points on 2-of-8 shooting, but they all came in the second half and went along with 10 rebounds and 5 blocks.
He finished strong after struggling early in a marquee matchup with Allen, a talented 6-11 freshman projected to be a first-round NBA draft pick by multiple publications. Allen scored 11 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 2 shots while frustrating Kingsley in the paint with his 7-6 wingspan.
"He's an awesome big," Arkansas guard Daryl Macon said of Allen. "He's tough. He never stopped attacking. That's one thing I saw in his game. He was a dog on the boards. That's something I haven't seen this year from a big besides Moses. I feel like he tested Moses today, but one thing Moses did was he kept going back at him. So I feel like they got each other better."
Allen outplayed Kingsley in the first half, scoring 7 points and grabbing 8 rebounds to Kingsley's 0 points and 6 boards. Allen flashed his athleticism on several plays, flushing two of his three dunks in the opening 20 minutes and soaring in for four offensive boards as a rare big man with more bounce than Kingsley.
"For all of our guys, when they're more aggressive and take a mentality of being in attack mode, that usually is a real, real positive," Texas Coach Shaka Smart said. "Jarrett was better in that tonight than he had been."
His length appeared to bother Kingsley when Arkansas went to him on the block in the opening minutes. Kingsley missed all four of his shot attempts in the first half, misfiring on a few hooks and tough looks.
"I didn't think he was playing with that energy that we've got to have from him," Anderson said of Kingsley's first half.
But the second half was a different story. Allen's dunk notwithstanding, Kingsley got the better of the freshman after halftime, scoring his 7 points, grabbing 4 boards and blocking 3 of his 5 shots.
"We play a lot of pressure defense, and you get beat sometimes," Arkansas guard Dusty Hannahs said. "Having the trust and knowing Moses is back there, you know he's coming every time. There were a couple times where the guy goes right past us, and he comes off his man and throws it off the glass. Some of his blocks started transition for us. He was huge tonight."
Allen scored just four points and grabbed just two boards in the second half, neither of which came on the offensive glass.
Kingsley's presence in the paint on the defensive end was vital. His rim protection served as a deterrent for Texas, which shot only 40 percent from the floor.
And he showed up offensively late in the game. One of his two field goals was on a three-point play that capped a 10-1 run and put Arkansas up 71-62 with less than three minutes left.
"He could have hung his head and kind of felt sorry for himself, because in the first half he didn't get much going," Smart said. "But I thought he made a big difference [in the second half]. They got him the ball and he drew some fouls. I thought he was a difference-maker in the second half."
Sports on 12/18/2016