FAYETTEVILLE — No. 10 Arkansas was more than happy to turn Wednesday’s home game against Central Arkansas into a track meet.
The Razorbacks ran early and often against the Bears and sped their way to a convincing 97-60 victory to improve to 7-0 this season. Arkansas utilized its vast advantage in athleticism and blew past its previous single-game high in fast-break points this season.
Eric Musselman’s club entered Wednesday averaging 12.7 transition points per game, according to CBB Analytics. The Razorbacks totaled 32 against UCA, more than in their previous three games combined.
Sophomore guard Davonte Davis worked his way out of a bit of an early season scoring funk by excelling in the open floor. He finished with a season-high 16 points on 6 of 9 shooting, and half of his buckets came in transition.
“We were able to get out and get fast-break points, and that's what we really want, just to get opportunities to just make fast-break layups and things like that,” Davis said. “And we have guys that can outlet the ball, bigs...that can dribble the ball up the court.
“Just knowing that we have those type of players, that helps us out a lot.”
The Razorbacks assisted on seven of their 15 fast-break scores and Davis was on the receiving end of two from Au’Diese Toney and JD Notae, who led the team with six assists. Davis' other transition field goal was a solo act that reminded of many of his best moments during an impressive freshman year.
Davis’ aggressiveness getting into the lane and to the rim was an encouraging sign given that in Arkansas’ first six games he was averaging a single fast-break point per game, per CBB Analytics.
"That's one of the things Devo was so good at last year, either leading the break or catching the break at half court and finishing off advance passes,” Musselman said. “I thought he attacked well.”
Jaylin Williams, who added 8 points and a career-high 13 rebounds to go with 2 steals and 2 blocks, said Arkansas has made it a point to score with the floor broken all season. But against UCA, that aspect of the Razorbacks’ game helped them pull away after halftime.
Toney also scored three times in transition, and Notae, Chris Lykes, Jaxson Robinson and KK Robinson had two such scores apiece. Stanley Umude’s three-pointer late in the first half assisted by Notae came on the break.
Jaxson Robinson, a talent-rich but little-used guard off the bench in the early stages of the season, pitched in seven points behind a right-corner three-pointer and breakaway buckets, including a one-handed dunk, assisted by Davis and Lykes.
Arkansas’ 32 fast-break points were its most in a game under Musselman. Its previous high was 30 in his debut with the Razorbacks in 2019.
“We can push the break and we’ve got a lot of fast guards, got a lot of guys that can run the lanes,” Williams said. “Devo is one of the best in fast-break one-on-ones or fast-break (situations).
“We really just made it an emphasis to push the ball this game and get down the court.”