FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas guard Davonte “Devo” Davis found forward Jalen Graham for a crowd-pleasing dunk just before the final buzzer to cap the Razorbacks’ 106-90 win over North Carolina-Wilmington on Saturday.
The press-breaking slam highlighted the secondary scoring roles for Davis and Graham behind guards Keyon Menifield and Tramon Mark against a Seahawks team that made no bones about being willing to go up and down the floor with the Razorbacks.
Graham scored a season-high 16 points in 27 minutes and Davis added 14 points, 6 assists and a team-best plus-minus rating of +21 in 35 minutes behind Menifield’s 32 points and Marks’ 18.
“Devo, it was his best game of the year,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “The assists were really important, especially when Keyon was scoring the ball. We needed another distributor. He did that.
“This is the time of year that Devo elevates his game for whatever reason. He’s got some biological clock that says, ‘All right, it’s getting close to January 1. I’ve got 8 weeks to play and turn it up.’”
Both Davis and Graham were efficient as they combined for 12 of 18 shooting (66.7%).
Graham connected on 7 of 11 shots, many of them dunks and his signature one-hand hooks and bank shots from the paint.
“I thought Jalen Graham was great tonight,” Musselman said. “He’s a really, really special offensive player.”
Davis made 5 of 7 shots and scored in double figures for the first time since a 15-point outing against Memphis on Nov. 23 and had his third-highest scoring output on the season.
Davis went 3 for 5 on three-point shots after going 1 for 4 from distance over the last six games.
“I haven’t been shooting it much, you know what I mean?” Davis said. “Just trying to find my spots and make the right shots. And when I do shoot, make sure I’m shooting it with confidence.”
Davis improved to 10 for 35 (28.6%) on three-pointers on the season.
Century mark
Arkansas went over the 100-point milestone for the fourth time under Eric Musselman on Trevon Brazile’s uncontested two-hand dunk after Davonte Davis spotted him in the paint with no defenders around.
Brazile’s flush gave the Hogs a 101-87 lead with 34.9 seconds left. Brazile hung on the rim, drawing a technical foul, his fourth of the year in addition to a flagrant 1 penalty.
Arkansas, which last scored 100 points in a 101-73 win at South Carolina on March 2, 2021, hit its highest total since a 142-62 rout of Mississippi Valley State to open the 2020-21 season.
The Hogs’ highest point total the past two seasons had been a 99-58 win over San Jose State last year and a 99-73 win at Georgia the year before.
Awesome FTs
Arkansas went to the free-throw line repeatedly in the second half after entering the bonus at the 14:22 mark and the double bonus at 11:33.
The Razorbacks finished 33 of 43 from the free throw line for 76.7%, their fifth-best showing of the season.
Keyon Menifield led the way with 13 of 17 shooting from the line, while Tramon Mark went 7 of 8. Khalif Battle, El Ellis and Jalen Graham all went 2 for 2 as the only Razorbacks without a miss.
“I mean it’s a big deal,” Coach Eric Musselman said. “The free throws attempted and the paint points was the game plan coming in, so the 43 FTAs, awesome. Converting 33, super awesome.”
White attack
UNC-Wilmington forward Trazarien White lived up to his billing as a premier scorer by going off for 28 points on 9 of 20 shooting.
White was averaging a team-high 19.3 points entering the game. The 6-6 forward from Mansfield, Texas, made 9 of 15 free throws.
“Awesome player, but I was also really happy with how we played him,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “I really was. I thought the first half we were phenomenal. He had two field goals. We shrunk the floor. We had our hands up.”
Musselman said White began driving to the rim after the Hogs built a lead and started hugging up to him and other three-point shooters on the perimeter.
“A super incredible basketball player who’s got a real knack for drawing fouls,” Musselman added.
Swish and flush
The Walton Arena crowd hit a first-half crescendo when the Razorbacks scored five quick points, capped by Trevon Brazile’s alley-oop dunk on a high pass from Keyon Menifield, to re-take the lead.
Trailing 26-20 just moments earlier, the Hogs pulled within one on Davonte Davis’ three-point shot from the right wing, the team’s first of the game, on a Menifield assist.
On the other end, Makhi Mitchell got his hand on a point-blank shot by Khamari McGriff and snagged the rebound. He threw an outlet to Menifield, who launched his lob from the Nolan Richardson signature just beyond half court.
Brazile had to go high to control the pass and the 6-10 sophomore flushed it to send the crowd into a frenzy and give the Razorbacks a 27-26 lead.
“There aren’t a lot of guys who can go get that one,” former Razorback Joe Kleine said on the SEC Network broadcast. “When you [jump like] that, it doesn’t matter.”
Battle fatigue
Arkansas guard Khalif Battle, a 15.3-point per game scorer, scored just two points in a 7-minute stint that concluded when he turned an ankle late in the first half.
Battle went 0 for 5, with a pair of missed layups. The 6-5 guard seemed to be indecisive about taking a layup or trying for a dunk and landed poorly after missing a dunk try. He got up off the baseline and missed a three-point try in the corner but he could not run to the other end of the court as Nolan Hodge scored on a layup to tie the score at 35-35. The officials stopped the game and Battle hobbled gingerly to the bench at the 4:37 mark. He did not play in the second half.
Last 11
Guard Keyon Menifield scored the Razorbacks’ last 11 points of the first half over the final 2:35.
Arkansas turned a two-point lead into a 48-42 edge at intermission during that stretch.
Menifield had a reverse layup after driving the left baseline, a three-pointer from the left wing, a pair of free throws, a three-pointer from the right corner and another free throw with 1.9 seconds left during the run. Menifield was shown with an expression of disgust at halftime for missing the final free throw.
Miracle tip
Tramon Mark provided one of the best put-backs of the season midway through the second half.
Mark was in the low position on the right block when Layden Blocker missed the back end of a two-shot foul. The miss took two bounces on the rim, allowing Mark to squeeze between two defenders around to the left block and get a left-hand tip about shoulder high that he guided up and over the rim to give the Hogs a 73-58 lead.
Nugget man
Jalen Graham had the honors of getting the Razorbacks’ 75th point, triggering a free chicken nuggets promotion from Chick-fil-A.
The key bucket was one of the best of the night as Graham went high to corral a lob from Keyon Menifield, who had just dribbled out of a trap near mid-court before launching. Graham caught the pass at the apex of his jump and slammed it through to give Arkansas a 75-61 lead at the 9:53 mark.