FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas' basketball season opener Wednesday was one for the record books.
The Razorbacks defeated Mississippi Valley State 142-62 at Bud Walton Arena. The 80-point margin of victory was the second largest in program history, two points shy of the 82-point win recorded by Arkansas over Bethune-Cookman in December 1991.
Arkansas (1-0) used a 28-0 first-half run to blow open a game that was expected to be a rout. Mississippi Valley State (0-1) went 3-27 last season and entered the season ranked last among 357 Division I teams by the basketball analytics site Kenpom.com.
The Razorbacks made 55.8% (48 of 86) of their field goal attempts and had eight players score at least 13 points. Arkansas made 20 of 40 attempts from 3-point range.
Arkansas' points and 3-pointers made were second most in program history. The Razorbacks scored 166 points against U.S. International in December 1989 and made 21 3-pointers against Troy in December 1996.
Connor Vanover scored 23 points in his debut for Arkansas. Vanover, a 7-3 redshirt sophomore from Little Rock, sat out last season after transferring from California.
Vanover made 8 of 11 field goal attempts against MVSU, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range.
Other players to score double digits in their Razorback debut were freshmen Moses Moody (18) and Khalen Robinson (15), and transfers Vance Jackson (15), Jalen Tate (14), Justin Smith (13) and JD Notae (13).
Desi Sills, who is one of two returning players from last season, also scored 13 points.
Terry Collins scored 15 points to lead MVSU, which made 31.9% (23 of 72) of its field goal attempts. The Delta Devils committed 21 turnovers that the Razorbacks converted into 43 points.
Arkansas led 61-30 at halftime and outscored the Delta Devils 81-32 in the second half. The Razorbacks' bench scored more points (67) than the entire MVSU team.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play again Saturday at 5 p.m. against North Texas in Fayetteville. MVSU is scheduled to play at North Texas on Thursday.