No. 25 Arkansas exploded in the second half to defeat Fresno State 82-58 in Simmons Bank Arena Saturday afternoon.
The Hogs only led 44-34 at the intermission. Coach John Calipari wasn't caught by surprise when Fresno State came out in a zone.
"D.J. (Wagner) hit shots, Karter (Knox) hit shots," Calipari said. "They hadn't played one minute of zone. What did that mean? They are probably going to play some zone today and they did. It was a little bit of a funky zone too. We knew what we could attack them on."
The Razorbacks came out of halftime and went on a 22-6 run to go up 50-26 with 16:49 remaining in the game. The largest lead of the game 67-35 came with 10:35 remaining in the game.
Darius Acuff Jr. had 18 points to lead all scorers. He also chipped in five rebounds and eight assists. Calipari feels the true freshman is making better decisions.
"I think he's doing terrific," Calipari said. "Today where he tried to force some shots. Today on a drive Karter said one more. He was going to shoot it, but when he heard one more he just got rid of it."
Arkansas shot 45% (30-66) from the field and 37% (11-30) from beyond the 3-point line. Fresno State was held to 35% from the field and only made four 3-pointers in 26 attempts (15%). Fresno State did outrebound the Hogs 41-39. The Razorbacks did have 11 steals to only four for the opponent.
Wagner and Meleek Thomas each added 12 points and Knox had 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Jac Mani topped Fresno State (6-4) with 12 points. Wilson Jacques added 12 points and 14 rebounds. Fresno State's Jake Heidbreder entered the game leading the team in scoring at 20 points per outing. He was held to eight points against Arkansas with six of those coming at the free throw line. He hit one field goal in 10 attempts and missed on all five shots from behind the 3-point line.
"I'm looking at us right now saying, 'You know what? I've got a pretty good team,'" Calipari said. "I've said it from Day 1. We've just got some things we have to do for what it means to me."
Arkansas (7-2) will now take a week off before they head to Dallas to take on No. 19 Texas Tech (6-2) at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
