FAYETTEVILLE -- The lid finally came off the basket on three-pointers for University of Arkansas sophomore guard Desi Sills on Tuesday night.
Sills hit back-to-back three-pointers within a 34-second span -- doubling his total on the season after he had been 2 of 32 in his first 244 minutes -- to help the Razorbacks beat Austin Peay 69-61 before an announced crowd of 11,995 in Walton Arena.
Sills got hot in a hurry from behind the arc after missing his first two attempts against the Governors.
Reggie Chaney passed to Sills with the shot clock running down, and he hit a three-pointer with 2:42 left. After an Austin Peay missed shot, Sills showed no hesitation in launching another three-pointer that was good with 2:08 left to push the Razorbacks' lead to 65-52.
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"It's good to see Desi knocking those shots down with confidence," Arkansas junior guard Mason Jones said. "You could tell when he made that first one, that second one was going up automatically.
"When he took it, I knew it was going in. I put my hand up for a three-ball."
Sills' three-point revival helped the Razorbacks (8-0) finish 9 of 23 from beyond the arc. It was the most three-pointers they have hit since going 10 of 25 in a season-opening 91-43 victory over Rice.
In the previous six games, Arkansas was 30 of 131 (22.9%) on three-pointers, including 3 of 18 in a 66-60 victory over Northern Kentucky on Saturday.
"As you know, we've been struggling a little bit from behind the three-point line, and we can definitely still get better," said Arkansas sophomore guard Isaiah Joe, who scored 16 points. "But just to see a few go in this game, it gave us a lot of confidence and it gave us momentum."
Jones, who scored 16 points after sitting out the Northern Kentucky game because of a strained right shoulder, hit 2 of 4 three-pointers. Junior guard Jalen Harris also was 2 of 4, Sills 2 of 5 and Joe 3 of 10.
The Razorbacks shot 47.8% from the field (22 of 46), 39.1% on three-pointers and 88.9% on free throws (16 of 18).
"Obviously, we shot the ball well tonight," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. "It's hard to get close to a 50-40-80 -- which is an NBA term for playing as good as you can play offensively.
"We almost hit those marks. Turning the ball over is a problem."
The shooting helped the Razorbacks survive 20 turnovers, their most since having 21 against Rice. Jones had six turnovers, which he lamented while looking at the box score during postgame interviews.
"I don't want to say the shoulder," Jones said. "That's no excuse. I should play way better.
"I hold myself to a higher standard than six turnovers. I just got done talking to Coach Musselman, and I was very disappointed about it. I told him I apologize for it. I've got to get ready for the next game, move on."
Musselman managed a smile when asked what he told Jones after the game.
"Don't turn the ball over," Musselman said. "I mean, six is a lot. But it was great to have him back. He just changes us from a spacing standpoint because Mason is such a threat."
Senior guard Jimmy Whitt led the Razorbacks with 17 points. Sills added eight points.
Terry Taylor, a 6-5 junior forward, led the Governors (3-4) with 20 points and six rebounds. He hit 9 of 16 shots.
"He's a great big," Joe said. "He's very solid, very strong and when he gets it in his left hand, it's hard to stop him.
"We fought hard to keep it in his right hand and limit his touches. He's going to do good in the future. We just have to keep going into details on big men, because we're small."
The Razorbacks' lack of size makes hitting three-pointers important, especially when Sills can contribute from the perimeter as he did against Austin Peay.
"I went to my knees," Governors Coach Matt Figger said of Sills' three-pointer that just beat the shot clock. "We had done our job, and he shot it up in the air and it drew some rain and went in.
"It's just one of those things. It was deflating for us because we were right there. But our kids kept competing."
Jones, who said he hurt his shoulder taking a fall at Georgia Tech last week when he hit a game-winning three-pointer in overtime, estimated it's about 70% healthy.
"I'm not going to lie. It hurt watching [the Razorbacks] play when I wasn't playing," Jones said of sitting out against Northern Kentucky. "But I trusted them the whole game. I knew they were going to come out and get a win against Northern Kentucky.
"I just wanted to make sure I was ready for this game. There was no way I was going to miss this game. I was ready. Regardless of the shoulder, I had to play."
Austin Peay's opponents had shot 34.8% from three-point range (40 of 115) coming into the game.
"Statistics tells you that they're not a good three-point shooting team," Figger said. "But I've watched Isaiah Joe shoot the ball enough. We played here last year."
Joe hit 4 of 7 three-pointers when the Razorbacks beat the Governors 76-65 last year in Walton Arena.
"They will eventually start going in," Figger said of the Razorbacks' three-point attempts. "They did against us tonight."
Sills' three-point struggles prior to Tuesday night were confounding because he shot 46% (29 of 63) last season.
"Looking at those numbers last year, we felt eventually he would knock some down," Musselman said. "The good thing is we're going on the road [to play at Western Kentucky on Saturday] and hopefully that kind of picks up his confidence level.
"Those two shots he hit tonight were really, really important. Crucial for us at that time. Those were two separators for us."
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 8-0; Austin Peay 3-4
STARS Arkansas senior guard Jimmy Whitt (17 points) and junior guard Mason Jones (16 points, 4 rebounds). Austin Peay junior forward Terry Taylor (20 points, 6 rebounds)
KEY STAT The Razorbacks hit 9 of 23 three-pointers.
UP NEXT Arkansas plays Western Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. Central Saturday at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky.
Sports on 12/04/2019