Hogs survive North Florida, Moore

Arkansas' Dusty Hannahs drives in the first half of the Razorbacks' 91-76 win over North Florida.
Arkansas' Dusty Hannahs drives in the first half of the Razorbacks' 91-76 win over North Florida.

— Arkansas survived another scoring outburst from North Florida’s Dallas Moore to remain unbeaten in Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.

Moore, who came in averaging 30 points per game in his last three, scored a game-high 34, but the Razorbacks pulled away in the second half for a 91-76 win.

"The tests keep coming for this basketball team," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "... Sometimes you tell kids you can't look at their records because you're going to get their best shot, and we got their best shot."

The Hogs took control with an 11-0 second-half run, a spurt sparked in part by a Jaylen Barford 3-pointer, two Daryl Macon 3-pointers and three North Florida turnovers as a tie game became a 73-63 Razorback lead. The Ospreys had 11 of their 19 turnovers in the second half and never got closer than six after the run.

"I just saw the clock and went tunnel vision, honestly," Barford said of his 3, which gave the Hogs the lead for good. "I just knew I had to make that shot, because I shoot that shot every day in practice."

Dusty Hannahs’ 17 points led four Razorbacks in double figures. Barford scored 14, Macon added 13 and Moses Kingsley had 13 points and 10 rebounds.

The game was tied at halftime thanks in large part to Moore’s scoring prowess. He had 22 of his points in the first half, hitting several of his four 3-pointers from well behind the arc and forcing Arkansas to trap him 25 feet from the basket.

"Just confidence," Moore said of the reason for his hot shooting. "I shoot with coach as much as I can, because I want to be the best player I can be."

The Ospreys knocked down 7 of 17 3-pointers in the opening half to keep pace with Arkansas and finished 12 of 30 from beyond the arc.

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson began the second half with a different group than his starting five, inserting Hannahs and Anton Beard for Barford and Manny Watkins. Five Razorbacks had three assists or more: Macon and Watkins with four apiece and Dustin Thomas, Barford and Hannahs with three each.

North Florida entered the game a week after a 77-71 loss at Syracuse last Saturday and had also lost to three other SEC teams: 83-66 at Auburn, 78-70 at LSU and 91-60 at Florida.

"These kinds of game, where you're making large sums of money for your athletic department ... After a while, it wears on you," North Florida coach Matthew Driscoll said. "... Arkansas, to their credit, never stopped."

Arkansas has the week off for finals and will play against Texas in Houston on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

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