No. 20 Arkansas dominated No. 15 Vanderbilt from the opening tip to the final whistle taking a 93-68 win at Bud Walton Arena Tuesday night.
The game was tied at 2-2 in the opening minutes, but the Razorbacks went on an 11-0 run opening a 13-2 lead with 13:57 left in the opening half. The Hogs never looked back. John Calipari liked the focus of his team.
"What I told them after the game because I got on a couple of guys and I said, 'look some of this stuff we're not doing. You are not going to be in the game because I'm taking you out,'" Calipari said. "Do your job. What we did today how about pass the ball? I like the pass. I like to dribble. After you pass it cut."
Arkansas did a good job of passing the ball considering they had 25 assists on 37 field goals.
"We had (only) seven turnovers," Calipari said. "We had six guys in double figures because they passed the ball to each other. Everybody touches the ball instead of one guy. That's all we're trying to do."
Arkansas (14-5, 4-2) remained just one game out of first place in the SEC with the win.
"We had a couple of games I'm disappointed about," Calipari said. "I wish we had played better. At Georgia we fought to get back in the game. We had no business being 70-70 then we gave up a layup from the 3-point line on in and then have a kid a 3. Then we're down five."
Calipari has seen his team go 3-0 at home in the SEC and 1-2 on the road. He echoed what many fans have asked, which team is it?
"I don't know, but I like this team." Calipari said. "The team against South Carolina that passed the ball. How good was TB today?"
Trevon Brazile did have 10 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks in 32 minutes.
"That is one of the best players in the country," Calipari said. "Play that way. We shouldn't accept anything less than that."
Calipari also liked what his other two big men did. Malique Ewin continued his improved play of late scoring 16 points and pulling down four boards off the bench. Nick Pringle added eight points and four more boards.
"Malique Ewin is getting better," Calipari said. "There's a 30-40% gap where he can get better. Don't settle and get thrown around. Skills-wise he's a pretty good player."
Darius Acuff Jr. topped the Hogs with 17 points and five assists. Karter Knox returned to the starting lineup and added 16 points, four rebounds and two assists. D.J. Wagner came off the bench for 11 points and three assists. Meleek Thomas started in Wagner's place and added 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and a steal.
Vanderbilt (16-3, 3-3) dropped its third game in a row after opening the season winning the first 16. Tyler Nickel had 16 points, Tyler Tanner 11 points and six assists plus Devin McGlockton finished with 10 points.
Arkansas (14-5, 4-2) dominated the boards 39-27. The taller Razorbacks scored 50 points in the paint to just 22 for the visitors. Arkansas shot 58% from the field and 41% from deep. Both figures considerably better than Vanderbilt. The visitors attempted 31 shots from behind the 3-point line making only 10.
Arkansas will be at home Saturday night to host LSU at 7:30 p.m. and televised on the SEC Network. LSU (13-6, 1-5) fell to Florida 79-61 Tuesday night. The lone SEC win for LSU was 78-70 over Missouri.