FAYETTEVILLE — BJ Young is still trying to find his touch from behind the three-point line, but he broke out of an 0-for-13 slump Saturday to score 25 points and help Arkansas to a 73-60 victory over Tennessee.

Young made a three-pointer in each half, finished 2 of 3 from beyond the arc and teamed with Hunter Mickelson to provide a jolt off the bench for the Razorbacks, whose reserves outscored Tennessee’s 46-9.

Young made 9 of 15 shots, including some drives to the rim against man-to-man pressure and a variety of layups on the break.

“I thought he was more focused on the defensive side … and that enabled him to really get scoring,” Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. “He got some nice buckets getting to the hole. ... Shooting, even for a scorer, is all about confidence. And he played with that swagger.”

Young hit more than half of his shots in an SEC game for the first time this season and exceeded 20 points for just the second time since scoring 26 points Dec. 29 in a 79-61 victory over Northwestern (La.) State.

“I just go from game to game, take the shots as they present themselves,” said Young, who is 48 of 107 (44.9 percent) from the floor in conference games. “I have confidence I’ll make the next one all the time.”

Young, who had a try for a tying three-pointer slip off his fingertips at the buzzer in a 59-56 loss at Alabama on Thursday, got a better grip against the Volunteers. The sophomore snatched a rebound away from a Tennessee defender and dropped in a reverse layup shortly after entering the game, then hit a three-pointer from the top of the circle to give Arkansas its first four-point lead, 22-18, with 6:07 left in the first half.

“Well, he’s real shifty with it,” said Tennessee guard Josh Richardson, who was beaten off the dribble by Young a couple of times. “He was just hitting shots today. There’s nothing else to say about it.”

When Tennessee pulled within 65-58 with 1:47 remaining, Young used a screen from Mickelson to pull up for a 14-footer that essentially iced the game with five seconds left on the shot clock.He also made a three-pointer with three seconds on the shot clock to put the Hogs ahead 59-46 with 5:15 left.

Young and Mickelson, who had started 18 and 19 games, respectively, combined for 35 points on 14-of-23 shooting and had 4 assists, 1 blocked shot and 5 steals. Four of them came from Mickelson.

Young, who shot 41.3 percent from three-point range as a freshman, improved to 21.4 percent (15 of 70) this season with his 2-of-3 showing against Tennessee.

Sports, Pages 28 on 02/03/2013