FAYETTEVILLE -- The road has caused issues at times for No. 21 Arkansas, but not on Saturday as they defeated Mississippi State 88- 68 in Starkville.
Arkansas (17-6, 7-3) only trailed early before taking control of the game midway through the first half and pulled away. Arkansas missing both D.J. Wagner (ankle) and Karter Knox (knee) only used seven players, but that was all they needed. Arkansas held a 43-30 lead at halftime and continued to add to it in final 20 minutes. John Calipari was pleased to see his team get its third road win in SEC play.
"The way we played the first eight minutes is what we need everyday," Calipari said. "Now if that means playing less people."
Calipari was pleased to see true freshman Isaiah Sealy respond with six points, one rebound, two assists and three blocks in 15 minutes.
"I said look guys, Sealy needs to be playing," Calipari said. "He's waited his turn, done all the right stuff and now he gets his chance."
One difference in the game was turnovers. The Bulldogs forced seven Arkansas turnovers, but only scored four points off them. The Razorbacks forced 11 Mississippi State turnovers and turned that into 19 points. Arkansas also won the rebounding battle 38-33 which is something the coaching staff emphasized during the seven days between games.
Darius Acuff Jr. bounced back with a better game. He topped all scorers with 24 points including 3 of 5 from deep. Acuff also added five rebounds and dished out eight assists with only one turnover.
Trevon Brazile stepped up with a big game. Brazile had 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists, one steal and four blocks. Nick Pringle added six points and 11 rebounds. Billy Richmond Jr. got the start with Knox out and contributed 14 points, four rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot. Meleek Thomas, just like Acuff, played all 40 minutes. Thomas had 17 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Mississippi State (11-12, 3-7) was topped in scoring by Josh Hubbard with 16 points. Achor Achor added 15 points and eight boards to go with two steals. Jamarion Davis-Fleming came off the bench to score 12 points, pull down six boards and block a pair of shots.
The Razorbacks shot 52% (36-69) from the field and 36% (8-22) from deep. They held the Bulldogs to 46% from the field and 20 from deep.
Arkansas will return to action on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. on the SEC Network when they take on LSU. The Razorbacks beat LSU 85-81 on Jan. 24 in Bud Walton Arena.
"Now we get another road game," Calipari said. "The only thing about getting these road games out of the way is there should be home games coming up. But the home games are really hard just like Kentucky. Not one of them is going to be an easy game to win. We could lose all four."