FAYETTEVILLE — Justin Smith scored 18 points, JD Notae added 16 and Arkansas never trailed Saturday night in a 69-54 win over North Texas.
The Razorbacks (2-0) opened the second half with a 9-0 run to build their largest lead of the game at 47-27.
The Mean Green (1-1) had runs of 7-0 and 9-0 and cut the deficit to 10 shortly after the midpoint of the second half. But Smith and Notae each made a 3-pointer during Arkansas’ 12-3 run to get the lead to 67-48 with 3:47 left.
Connor Vanover had a career-high 16 rebounds to go with 6 points and 6 blocks. Desi Sills had 14 points and Moses Moody scored 11 for Arkansas.
The Razorbacks had a 40-36 advantage on the glass.
Terence Lewis II scored 12 points and Zachary Simmons added 10 for North Texas, which was 2 of 13 from 3-point range.
EARLIER
Arkansas 69, North Texas 54
Justin Smith scored a game-high 18 points and the Razorbacks improved to 2-0 on the young season with a win over the Mean Green.
JD Notae, a transfer guard from Jacksonville, added 16 points off the bench on 6 of 14 from the floor. He added 11 points in the first half. Desi Sills finished with 14 points as well, and Connor Vanover added six points to go with a career-high 16 rebounds and six blocks.
Moses Moody scored in double figures for the second time in as many games at Arkansas, chipping in 11 on 2 of 9 from the field. Jalen Tate and KK Robinson scored two points apiece in the win.
North Texas was led in scoring by Terence Lewis, who had 12 on 4 of 7 shooting. The Mean Green finished 15 of 29 on layups in the loss large in part to Vanover's interior defense.
Arkansas 67, North Texas 50 - 3:05 left
JD Notae, moments after having a 3-point attempt blocked, buried a 3 several feet beyond the line from straight away. He has 16 points tonight on 6 of 13 shooting to go with five boards and three assists.
Connor Vanover is up to six blocks on the night. He is the first Razorback to have at least six blocks in a game since Reggie Chaney against Providence in the NIT in 2018. His interior defense, like I wrote earlier, has been stellar. Also has 15 rebounds.
Justin Smith has a game-high 18 points.
Arkansas 62, North Texas 45 - 7:30 left
The Mean Green cut Arkansas' lead to just 10, but the Razorbacks quickly answered with three buckets from three different players.
First, Connor Vanover got a layup to fall, then JD Notae added a jumper and Justin Smith canned a right-corner 3. Smith leads all scorers with 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting. He is 2 of 3 from deep, too, and has three steals. He has hit his share of jumpers tonight, but I've liked the physicality he's played with as well.
Vanover is up to six points, 15 rebounds and five blocks in his 28 minutes. Notae has 13 points in the game on 5 of 10 from the floor. He can get anywhere he wants on the floor, and his shot fake through two games has been lethal to say the least.
Arkansas 55, North Texas 40 - 11:21 left
Justin Smith is having himself a very nice night. He has a game-high 15 points on 6 of 11 from the floor to go with three rebounds, two steals and one block. Smith has a team-high seven points since halftime, including three scores at the rim.
JD Notae was pulled from the game after turning the ball over twice quickly after entering in the second half. Eric Musselman really likes what he's getting from the Jalen Tate-Desi Sills-Moses Moody-Smith-Connor Vanover group.
Arkansas 47, North Texas 27 - 16:12 left
The Razorbacks have tacked on two more scores and forced Mean Green coach Grant McCasland to burn another timeout. Jalen Tate just got into the lane, missed a floater, grabbed his own miss and scored with a layup off the glass.
The other bucket since North Texas' first timeout of the half was a Connor Vanover dunk. He has four points tonight to go with 11 rebounds and four blocks. His interior defense tonight has been outstanding. The Mean Green are now 7 of 16 on layup attempts in the game.
Arkansas, with another bucket or two, could put this game away for good and notch a pretty quality win in impressive fashion.
Arkansas 43, North Texas 27 - 18:53 left
The Razorbacks have opened the second half on a 5-0 run behind three free throws from Moses Moody and a transition score by Justin Smith. Moody now up to 11 points and Smith has 10.
The Mean Green are just 7 of 14 on layups tonight. Connor Vanover having a big defensive impact, not just blocking shots but altering them and making players think twice about going up to the rim. He has two points, eight boards and three blocks to this point.
Arkansas 38, North Texas 27 - Half
By no means a great half from the Razorbacks, but they carry a double-digit lead into halftime.
JD Notae leads all scorers with 11 points on 4 of 8 from the floor. He fueled a late scoring run that ballooned Arkansas' lead. Moses Moody and Justin Smith added eight apiece as well. Smith knocked down a 3 from the middle of the floor then added a layup in transition to push the Razorbacks' edge to 13.
Connor Vanover is not having the offensive game he did on Wednesday, but his impact on the defensive end has been big. He grabbed seven first-half rebounds and swatted three shots away in his 18 minutes. Arkansas outscored North Texas by 13 when he was on the floor.
Desi Sills is having a solid night, too. He chipped in seven points on 2 of 5 shooting. He is, though, 3 of 6 at the line. Need to clean that up a bit.
For the Mean Green, Thomas Bell scored a team-high six points on 3 of 7 from the floor. Five North Texas players have at least four points. Arkansas forced 11 first-half turnovers.
Arkansas 29, North Texas 19 - 3:50 left first half
JD Notae has spearheaded a 10-0 Arkansas run over the last three minutes. He added seven points with a layup, a jumper then a right-wing 3 in transition assisted by Desi Sills. He then heat-checked himself and missed a very deep 3 on the right side of the floor but missed.
Moses Moody broke the 19-19 tie with an and-1 under the rim, getting a North Texas defender off his feet with a nice shot fake. Notae has a game-high nine points so far and Desi Sills has seven. Moody has six on 2 of 5 from the floor.
Arkansas 19, North Texas 19 - 7:40 left first half
The Razorbacks added only one field goal during the nearly four minutes between media timeouts, and it was from Desi Sills. He added two free throws coming out of the last break as well. He has a game-high seven points.
KK Robinson has seen the floor four minutes in the first half, and he canned a pair of free throws moments ago. Arkansas as a team, though, is sluggish and out of sync. It is 5 of 18 from the floor and just 1 of 7 from deep.
Arkansas 13, North Texas 10 - 11:47 left first half
The Mean Green made something of a run to pull within three points a moment ago, but the Razorbacks have led the whole way so far. Arkansas, though, does not have a score from the field since Connor Vanover's dunk at the 16:21 mark.
Justin Smith and JD Notae have hit three free throws since then. Thomas Bell and Jalen Jackson have four points apiece for North Texas, whose bench has been pretty animated in the opening minutes.
Desi Sills will be at the line when play continues. He was fouled attacking the rim prior to the under-12 media timeout. He has three points and a pair of turnovers in the early going.
Arkansas 10, North Texas 4 - 15:43 left first half
Justin Smith opened tonight's game with a midrange jumper from the right side of the floor. Connor Vanover later added a putback dunk off a Moses Moody miss at the rim for his first points of the night.
Desi Sills and Moody each have three points to lead the way for the Razorbacks. Something to keep an eye on: Moody is 2 of 7 at the rim this season. Needs to be more effective there. He is 1 of 3 from the floor tonight and just knocked down a left-corner 3.
The Mean Green turned the ball over three times in the opening four-plus minutes.
Pregame
Arkansas' starting lineup: Desi Sills, Jalen Tate, Moses Moody, Connor Vanover and Justin Smith.
Sills opened his junior season in style on Wednesday, finishing second on the team in scoring with 19 points. He also added three steals, his most in a game since Feb. 4 against Auburn. Each player in tonight’s starting group scored at least 12 points and collectively hit 9 of 17 from 3.
Following its season-opening win, Arkansas briefly moved up one spot in the KenPom.com rankings to No. 53, but will play tonight’s game back at 54.
North Texas' starters: James Reese (6-4), Javion Hamlet (6-4), Mardrez McBride (6-2), Thomas Bell (6-6) and Zachary Simmons (6-10).
The Mean Green, like Arkansas on Wednesday, found great success against the Delta Devils from beyond the arc and ran away with a 116-62 win. North Texas hit a school-record 21 3-pointers on 33 attempts. It was the program's most in a game since hitting 19 in a win over Arkansas-Little Rock last season.
Reese led all scorers Thursday at MVSU with 21 on 8 of 11 shooting, including 5 of 7 from 3. Simmons added 16 points and seven rebounds, and Javion Hamlet, a senior guard, pitched in 13 points and a career-high 11 assists.
North Texas currently leads the country in effective field goal percentage, according to KenPom, at 81.7%. It did turn the ball over 17 times in Game 1, though.