The Arkansas basketball team is getting a three-day Christmas break after playing Sam Houston State on Thursday night.
"I'm going home to Nigeria," Razorbacks senior center Moses Kingsley told reporters.
Silence from the room.
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," Kingsley quickly added. "I can't go home and come back in three days."
Kingsley even got teammate Daryl Macon for a second.
"I was going like, 'What?' " Macon said.
The joke fit in with the rest of the night in North Little Rock for the Razorbacks. Arkansas won a laugher over Sam Houston State 90-56 at Verizon Arena before an announced crowd of 12,153.
The game drew a season-high home crowd for Arkansas (11-1), and the fans stayed loud throughout as the Razorbacks provided plenty of reasons to cheer.
Arkansas' 34-point winning margin matched the most lopsided loss for the Bearkats (9-4) this season. They lost at No. 4 Baylor 79-45 on Nov. 9.
Sam Houston State's other losses have been at Ohio 96-75 and at Georgia Tech 81-73.
"We put everything together," Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. "We put the defense together. I thought our offense was in sync.
"We got to the free-throw line. We rebounded the basketball."
The Razorbacks:
• hit 27 of a season-high 40 free throws;
• shot 50 percent from the field (28 of 56);
• held Sam Houston State to its season-low 30.7 percent shooting (23 of 53);
• Outrebounded the Bearkats 49-41.
"What just took place, you'd like to bottle it up and do it again," Anderson said. "But it just shows you the potential with this basketball team."
The Razorbacks had 43 deflections, Anderson said, along with 9 steals and 9 blocked shots. Anderson said he was especially pleased by his team's defensive effort and switches.
"We always talk about fixing things on defense, the rotation," he said. "Guys getting to the right spot. We saw guys going from the [lane] all the way out to the three-point line and blocking or challenging shots."
If a Sam Houston State player found himself open, he often took a rushed shot. The Bearkats hit 3 of 23 on three-point attempts after coming into the game shooting 33.6 percent from behind the arc.
"I thought our pressure defense -- whether it be half court or full court -- was very disruptive for what they wanted to do," Anderson said. "They had some open looks, but sometimes when you get those looks they're not really open because of the timing of the shots or they're not within the offense."
Kingsley and Macon, a junior guard from Little Rock, led the Razorbacks with 17 points each. Anton Beard, a junior from North Little Rock, scored 16 points.
"I feel like this was an important game for us going into conference for our confidence," Beard said. "But we know the teams that we've been playing are nowhere near what we'll see in the conference.
"We've got the mindset to get ready for conference play when we come back from the break."
The Razorbacks have played two games against teams from other Power Five conferences, losing at Minnesota 85-71 and beating Texas 77-74 in Houston.
Arkansas opens SEC play against Florida (9-3) on Thursday night in Walton Arena, then plays at Tennessee (7-5) and at No. 6 Kentucky (10-2).
"Ready or not, it's here," Anderson said of the SEC schedule. "But we'll be ready."
Arkansas will resume practice Monday.
Anderson said the players deserve a break, especially since they have been going through workouts on campus since June and began practicing in late July for an exhibition tour of Spain.
"They've had a pretty good, long stretch when you go all the way back to the first of June," Anderson said. "So it's good to give them a chance to go enjoy themselves with their families and come back fresh."
Kingsley may not be traveling to his native Nigeria, but he will get some family time.
"My brother lives in Little Rock," Kingsley said. "So I'm going to stay here with him and spend some time with him and his whole family."
Sports on 12/24/2016