FAYETTEVILLE -- Kentucky Coach John Calipari finally won an SEC game in Walton Arena.
The No. 23 Wildcats beat Arkansas 80-66 Thursday night before an announced season-high crowd of 18,588 to give Calipari his first victory at Walton Arena in four tries with Kentucky.
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 9-9, 3-3 SEC; Kentucky 14-4, 4-2
STARS Kentucky sophomore guard Tyler Ulis (24 points, 5 assists) and freshman guard Jamal Murray (19 points). Arkansas junior guard Dusty Hannahs (20 points).
TURNING POINT The Wildcats outscored the Razorbacks 14-7 the final 3:56 of the first half to take 36-24 halftime lead.
KEY STAT Arkansas hit 2 of 12 threepoint attempts.
UP NEXT Arkansas plays Georgia at 5 p.m. Central Saturday in Athens, Ga.
— Bob Holt
Calipari improved to 2-4 as the visiting coach at Arkansas, including 1-1 when he was at Memphis.
"Have I ever won in this building?" Calipari said, knowing he had. "I thought when I was at that other school maybe I did. So I wasn't sure. So I had? OK."
Arkansas had been the only SEC venue where Calipari hadn't won in seven seasons at Kentucky.
"This is a hard place," Calipari said. "You don't come here expecting to win, let me tell you that. You just don't."
There wasn't much doubt on this visit to Arkansas after the Wildcats jumped out to a 17-7 lead the first seven minutes, including four baskets on offensive rebounds: two stick-backs by 6-8 Alex Poythress and dunks by 6-9 Marcus Lee and 6-11 Skal Labisseiere.
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said Kentucky's aggressiveness had the Razorbacks uncharacteristically "back on our heels" from the start.
"They came out and really attacked us," Anderson said. "Once we got behind, it seemed like we never could get over the hump."
The 14-point loss matched the Razorbacks' second most-lopsided at home in Anderson's five seasons. They lost to Florida 98-68 in 2012 and to Ole Miss 82-68 last season.
"A lot of that credit goes to Kentucky," Anderson said. "They were more prepared maybe than I had our team."
Kentucky shot 41.9 percent from the field [26 of 62], but outrebounded Arkansas 43-34 and outscored the Razorbacks 19-8 in second-chance points.
"We were the aggressor and it stayed like that the whole game," said Kentucky 6-9 junior forward Derek Willis, who had 12 points and seven rebounds.
Sophomore point guard Tyler Ulis led the Wildcats (14-4, 4-2 SEC) with 24 points. He made 14 of 15 free throws.
"Tyler Ulis did a great job of taking command out there on the floor," Anderson said.
Ulis had 5 assists with 1 turnover in 38 minutes, and instead of wearing down, he wore out the Razorbacks.
"Tyler Ulis was ridiculous," Calipari said. "He was really, really, really good."
Sophomore guard Jamal Murray added 19 points and seven rebounds for Kentucky. He finished 7 of 18 from the field after missing his first seven shots.
Labissiere, a freshman who averaged 4.2 points the first five SEC games, scored 11. It was his highest scoring total in 12 games, since he had 17 against South Florida.
"We got hit in the mouth early and never recovered," said junior guard Dusty Hannahs, who led the Razorbacks with 20 points. "We kept trying to make that push."
Arkansas (9-9, 3-3) pulled within 22-17 with 4:26 left in the first half on Jabril Durham's layup, but five points were as close as the Razorbacks would get the rest of the game.
The Wildcats outscored the Razorbacks 14-7 the final 3:33 of the half, including five points from Ulis and two jump shots from Labissiere, to take a 36-24 halftime lead.
"I thought that was probably the difference in the game, that run they had," Anderson said.
Kentucky never led by fewer than 10 points in the second half.
"It seemed like we just kept trading baskets," Anderson said.
Senior guard Anthlon Bell scored 16 points for Arkansas, just shy of his 17.1 team-high average, but nine came in the final 6:18 after Kentucky led 65-49.
Moses Kingsley, a 6-10 junior, had 13 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocked shots for the Razorbacks. He tried to block other shots, which helped Kentucky get offensive rebounds.
Anton Beard, a 6-0 sophomore, added five rebounds for Arkansas but Anderson said overall the Razorbacks didn't do a good enough job of fighting for loose balls that too often ended up in the Wildcats' hands.
"Our guards have got to get in there and put a body on them," Anderson said. "We didn't do a good job of getting in there and making it difficult for those guys.
"They had carte blanche to the hole. You can't do that against Kentucky. Their strength is they put it up there and go get it."
Kingsley was called for a technical foul with 17:58 to play after he was fouled by Poythress, summing up a frustrating game inside for the Razorbacks."
"They went and got rebounds," Kingsley said. "They wanted to rebound more than we did.
"You're likely to come up with the win when you hit the glass like that."
Arkansas shot 40 percent from the field (22 of 45), including 2 of 12 on three-pointers, a season low in that category.
The Razorbacks came into the game shooting an SEC-best 44.7 percent from three-point range behind Hannahs and Bell. Their previous low was five in an 88-85 loss at Wake Forest.
Hannahs shot 7 of 14, but 1 of 5 on three-pointers. Bell was 5 of 12 and 1 of 4 on three-pointers.
"They were getting stops and we weren't," Hannahs said. "That's the bottom line. I don't really know what else to say."
Calipari praised the Razorbacks' effort.
"They didn't stop playing," Calipari said. "They just keep playing and trying to win and make threes.
"They don't care about the score. Here they come. But it was a good win. Anytime you can win on the road is a big game."
Sports on 01/22/2016