No. 8 Houston used a strong first half building a lead No. 14 Arkansas couldn't overcome falling to the Cougars 94-85 at the Prudential Center in Newark,N.J., Saturday evening.

Houston went on a 21-2 run to take a 40-19 lead with 9:34 remaining in the opening half. The Cougars scored 19 points on 12 Arkansas turnovers including nine in the first half. Arkansas did manage to fight back in the game thanks to some hot shooting from the field, but never led after 4-3 with 18:21 left in the first half. John Calipari talked about his message to the team.

“We talked about easy play," Calipari said. "Don’t try to make the hardest plays, that gets them going. We had more turnovers than we averaged…. Things that were out of character, but give them credit. One, we could not stay in front of them.”

Arkansas was able to cut out turnovers in the final nine minutes of the first half and cut the Houston lead to 49-41 at the intermission. The Razorbacks scored 44 points in the second half to only 45 for Houston. But while the Hogs shot 49% from the field and 40% from behind the 3-point line they missed 14 free throws, 21-35, for 60%.

“We score [85] points, that’s enough to win the game,” Calipari said. “We were prepared for the trapping, we knew what we wanted to do, how we wanted to play, and we got sloppy. You don’t get sloppy from a team that, how they play is driven by how they guard.

“Make your free throws, and now we’re at 90. You don’t have to make them all, but you can’t miss 14.”

Darius Acuff Jr. topped the Hogs with 25 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Malique Ewin added 20 points and nine rebounds. Billy Richmond had 12 points and D.J. Wagner added 11.

Emanuel Sharp topped Houston with 22 points while Kingston Flemings added 21. Houston (11-1) shot 52% from the field and 44% from deep. The Cougars shot 76% from the free throw line making 19, which was just two fewer than Arkansas who had 10 more attempts.

Arkansas (9-3) will be off until it hosts James Madison on Dec. 29 at 7 p.m.