FAYETTEVILLE — The biggest story in college basketball Sunday nearly unfolded at Bud Walton Arena.
It appeared No. 16 Arkansas might fall to Division II East Central (Okla.), but a late 20-4 run by the Razorbacks allowed them to edge the Tigers 77-74.
ECU led 60-46 with 11:02 remaining before Arkansas’ defense helped it rally.
“It was a big, shocking moment, because they came out swinging,” said Au'Diese Toney, a graduate transfer from Pittsburgh who is one of six newcomers on the roster. “We just had to bounce back from that. We’d never played with each other [against another team]. That’s why we’re having these games now, so we can build on top of that.”
Toney’s 10 points and 15 rebounds were key in the Razorbacks’ 33rd straight exhibition win.
“It’s just what Coach is preaching — always crash the glass, especially at the guard position at 6-6, you’re going up against smaller guards," Toney said. "There’s more long rebounds. You’ve just got to know your spots, be in the spots and you’re going to get your rebounds.”
Davonte “Devo” Davis had 20 points, JD Notae 17, Chris Lykes 13 and Jaylin Williams 10 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals to supplement Toney’s output.
The Razorbacks played without injured transfers Trey Wade and Kamani Johnson, and Connor Vanover and Khalen Robinson played limited minutes.
Toney said winning a game in the face of adversity might be a positive for Arkansas down the line.
“It can benefit us a lot,” Toney said. “The media hype is nothing. You’ve still got to come out and play and deserve what you get. Now we know moving forward that we have a lot of work to do. That’s why we take these games and learn from them.”
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman was asked if his team overlooked the small school from Ada, Okla. He seemed more surprised than angry at his team’s effort.
“I mean, if we had a really bad shoot around and a really lackadaisical practice yesterday, then I'd say we could chalk it up to that,” Musselman said. “But I'm concerned because we had a great shoot around today.
“In fact, it was so good that we knocked off the last 15 minutes of shoot around because I thought we had good energy. You can rest assured that we will never take off 15 minutes of our shoot around ever again with this group of players."
Arkansas made 29 of 66 shots from the field. The Razorbacks finished 2 of 16 from three-point range and 17 of 29 from free throw line. Arkansas had just nine assists and 10 turnovers.
“A lot of people had off games,” Toney said. “That’s more of getting back into the lab, getting more reps on...three-point shooting. We left a lot of points on the line. We have a great three-point shooting team, so I really don’t think that’s going to affect us throughout the year.”
Musselman said he was surprised by how winded his team looked within the first six minutes.
"Absolutely, I was astonished at the lack of physical conditioning that we exhibited early in the game," Musselman said.
Musselman admitted his team is searching for roles ahead of their next exhibition against North Texas on Saturday at 4 p.m.
“We are trying to figure out who we are and with our development aspect where we’re at,” Musselman said.