FAYETTEVILLE -- Southern Illinois University Coach Barry Hinson didn't want the Arkansas Razorbacks to overpower his team inside Monday night.
"We wanted to make sure they had to make threes in order to beat us," Hinson said. "And boy, that was a heck of a game plan wasn't it?
"Because they made threes and they beat us."
Arkansas hit 13 of 23 three-point baskets in a 90-65 victory over the Salukis before an announced crowd of 4,270 in Walton Arena.
The game wasn't as close as the final 25-point margin indicated. Arkansas hit 9 of its first 11 three-pointers in building a 56-25 halftime lead.
Senior guard Dusty Hannahs led the Razorbacks (2-0) with 19 points and hit 5 of 6 three-pointers after being 1 of 6 in Arkansas' season-opening 92-83 victory over Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne last Friday night.
"I knew he'd shoot the ball well tonight," Hinson said. "There was no question in my mind.
"Good shooters come back from 1 of 6, especially after a first game with some jitters."
Arkansas junior guard Daryl Macon hit 4 of 6 three-pointers and finished with 12 points and 5 assists.
Freshman guard C.J. Jones, who missed Friday's opener because of a knee injury, had 11 points in his Razorbacks debut and hit 2 of 4 three-pointers.
"For his first collegiate game, not bad," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "I thought he came out and played within himself and got the open spots and took shots.
"It was good to get him out there on the floor."
Anderson said Hannahs played more relaxed than in the opener and got better looks.
"He wasn't thinking," Anderson said. "And for a shooter when that first one goes, you feel the rhythm."
The Razorbacks shot 58.3 percent (21 of 36) during the decisive first half when they outscored SIU 43-10 over a 15:21 span to take a 56-22 lead.
Macon and Hannahs started the run with back-to-back three-pointers and the Razorbacks combined for seven during the run, including three in a row in a 57-second span -- 2 more by Macon and 1 by Jaylen Barford -- for a 46-20 lead at the 5:06 mark of the half.
"We were running the fast break and got a lot of open shots and were finding each other," Macon said. "When the offense goes it just goes and when it's not, we've got to find something else to work.
"Tonight it was going."
SIU shot 24.2 percent (8 of 33) of the first half. The Salukis hit their first two shots and led 5-2 before the Razorbacks took control.
"Our pressure defense sped them up," Anderson said. "They made some shots early on, but we all know sometimes that can be fools' gold. They kept attacking, but I thought our rotation was on point, and we made shots.
"Any time our defense is pretty good and we're making shots, we can be an explosive team -- and we exploded tonight."
Arkansas senior center Moses Kingsley had 15 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocked shots. He hit 7 of 7 free throws and attempted his first three-pointer -- a miss -- since going 1 of 2 as a freshman.
Hinson said Kingsley was an "intimidating factor" on defense.
"We missed a lot of layups and dunks tonight, and I think you have to give him credit for that," Hinson said. "I thought he had a lot to do with it."
Sophomore guard Armon Fletcher led SIU (0-2) with 13 points. Senior guard Leo Vincent and senior forward Sean O'Brien led SIU with 10 points each.
Arkansas held senior guard Mike Rodriguez -- who scored 29 points in the Salukis' 85-81 loss to Wright State -- to 4 points and 0-of-7 shooting.
"He got sped up tonight," Hinson said. "He played a little bit out of his zone."
No Razorback played more than 22 minutes and Hinson thanked Anderson for not running up the score after Arkansas led by as many as 36 points with 16:41 to play.
"I want to first say this -- Mike Anderson is an absolute class individual," Hinson said. "I hope you understand what you have here. That could have been a lot worse than what it was.
"In this day and age in our business, you don't find guys like that on other benches. That's a first-class guy and you're fortunate to have him. I mean that and I'm proud to call him my friend."
Sports on 11/15/2016