No. 14 Razorbacks pummel Cincinnati in preseason exhibition
FAYETTEVILLE — It was an exhibition game that didn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of the season, but you couldn’t convince anyone inside Bud Walton Arena of that on Friday night.
The Arkansas basketball team took the floor for the first time and posted a convincing win over the Cincinnati Bearcats 89-61.
Cincinnati, which had a ranked exhibition win over No. 7 Michigan under its belt, felt the pressure of Arkansas’ defense, which forced 13 turnovers — seven of which came in the first half.
Meleek Thomas led the Razorbacks in scoring with 18 points, while Darius Acuff Jr. (17), Trevon Brazile (15), Karter Knox (13) and Billy Richmond III (10) joined him in double figures. As a team, the Razorbacks shot 54.1% from the field and 42.1% (8-of-19) from three.
The Hogs jumped out to a quick lead by hitting five of their first six shots and pushed that lead even further with an 11-0 run from the 6:24 mark of the first half to the 3:38 mark. By the time the two teams headed to the lockers, the Razorbacks had a 48-28 advantage.
Right out of the halftime break, Thomas came out on fire and knocked down two threes as the Razorbacks pushed their lead to 25 points — 56-31. That lead was extended even further to 66-34 thanks to an 18-3 run in which the Hogs hit seven straight shots while Cincinnati went 1-for-9 in that same stretch.
The Hogs continued the dominant play throughout the rest of the game and the end of the bench got playing time with a little over two minutes left in the game.
Up next, the Razorbacks will travel to Memphis to play the Tigers in another exhibition matchup at the FedEx Forum on Monday.
HawgBeat has the highlights from Friday’s scrimmage below.
