The last team that came into Walton Arena pressing and trapping so aggressively effective was Tennessee against Arkansas late last season.

But in Friday night’s exhibition opener to the 2007-08 season, it was the Razorbacks doing the pressing and trapping and harassing as Arkansas routed West Florida, 117-43, before 9, 493 at Walton Arena.

Obviously West Florida, not only a Division II team but a not very good Division II team coming off a 10-17 season, is no Tennessee or similar SEC power that Arkansas, returning the starting cast from a 21-14 team, will face.

Nevertheless, it was a good start for new coach John Pelphrey converting the midtempo team he inherited from Stan Heath into a fullcourt operation.

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The Razorbacks pressed West Florida into 29 turnovers, while committing only 13, and dished an incredible 29 assists with shooting guard Patrick Beverley leading the assists with 9 in addition to scoring 17 points.

“ Twenty-nine assists to 15 turnovers, ” Pelphrey said. “ That’s terrific no matter who you are playing. I like the energy from the pressing side. No question the competition is going to get greater, but we needed to see progress tonight being a team and being unselfish. ”

Sophomore reserve forward Michael Washington of McGehee, led the scoring onslaught with 24 points in his first public appearance having missed both the opening night preseason scrimmage and Red-White intrasquad game for disciplinary reasons.

Backup center Darian Townes scored 12 while senior for ward Charles Thomas, igniting a strong second-half star t, and reserve guard Stefan Welsh each scored 11.

Senior forward Sonny Weems (4 of 5 ) scored 10 in the first half before exiting with a strained groin muscle.

Weems probably could have continued, Pelphrey said, but trainer David England didn’t want to risk aggravating the injury in an exhibition game.

Ryan Henry’s 15 points led West Florida.

The suspensions Pelphrey put on Washington and starting guards Gary Ervin and Beverley earlier this preseason presumably cast an effect that their new coach means business.

“ It gave me more motivation, ” Washington said of Pelphrey taking charge. “ I didn’t want to let my teammates and coaches down. We needed that. ”

The Hogs certainly looked motivated at the outset, scoring the game’s first 17 points en route to a 60-23 first half. Perhaps even more impressively, they opened the second half as intensely as they opened the first.

“ We put the score back to zero to zero just like it was to start the game and came out and played our hearts out, ” Washington said.

Pelphrey also talked about resetting the scoreboard and praised Thomas ’ senior leadership of “ doing a really good job of getting us going. ”

Sophomore backup point guard Stefan Welsh said the style suits the team.

“ We knew we had the athletes to do it, ” Welsh said. “ We just needed a commander. Coach Pelphrey has been stretching us to play hard all the time and be unselfish. If we do that, the sky is the limit. ”

Not that the sky is in sight yet.

“ There’s always room for improvement, ” Beverley said. “ Sometimes we played too fast. There are going to be some mistakes. We’ve got a lot of work to do. But after beating up on each other in practice, we did want to unleash what we had in the tank. ”

Arkansas outrebounded West Florida, 54-27.

The Razorbacks play their final exhibition game Tuesday night against Division II Campbellsville here before officially opening the season next Friday at night Walton against Wofford.