Arkansas center Moses Kingsley scored his first field goal with 5:04 to play in the first half at Walton Arena.
The TV announcers had said it was critical that Kingsley be involved early and often in Saturday's SEC game against Missouri.
They were wrong.
Kingsley's putback of his own miss ended a 14-0 Arkansas stretch that left the Razorbacks leading Missouri 46-25 and there was not going to be a repeat of what happened in football.
Oh sure, the Hogs got a little lackadaisical the last five minutes of the opening half and at times in the second half, firing too many three pointers.
The went into halftime leading 50-36, and the keys were the unselfish play and defensive effort.
The Razorbacks had 11 assists and only five turnovers at halftime, which set the stage for the second half.
Missouri had eight early turnovers and the Hogs cashed them in for 13 points.
If the Tigers hadn't been effective at the free-throw line (11 of 13 in the first half), it would have been much worse as they were 10 of 34 from the field.
Missouri missed long, short and in between. Most of the shots were contested, which was part of the reason Mizzou shot 13 free throws in the opening half.
The Tigers' leading scorer at halftime was Jordan Geist, who was 2 of 3 from the field, the only starter who made more than he missed.
Arkansas' defense was aggressive on the perimeter and in the paint, especially in the first half, and just good enough in the the second half to come away with a 92-73 victory that wasn't as close as the score.
No, it wasn't the type of performance that will put behinds in all those empty seats, and there should have been enough to get everyone's attention about fan interest.
It also didn't wash away the taste of a home loss to Mississippi State earlier in the week when the Bulldogs buried 12 three-pointers.
But Mississippi State beat Texas A&M 67-59 earlier Saturday, so at least the Hogs go to College Station Tuesday with a little more confidence and the knowledge they can win on the road. They beat Tennessee in Knoxville 82-78.
Few teams in the SEC, outside of Kentucky, win on the road, but for the Razorbacks to get back into the hunt for the NCAA Tournament that's what they have to do.
Beating Missouri was a must. The Tigers are probably the SEC's worst team, and the school has suffered a myriad of issues on and off the playing fields.
The Tigers aren't very good and head coach Kim Anderson might be in trouble if the administration could find someone to take the job.
But Kim Anderson is an alum as well as a former player at Missouri and is doing everything he can. The truth is the Tigers got blindsided when head coach Frank Haith bolted after three seasons.
Haith inherited some good players from Mike Anderson and did good the first two years but then the wheels started coming off and with the NCAA watching closely Haith did a reverse coaching move and went to Tulsa.
Most coaches have used Tulsa as a stepping stone to bigger programs, but Haith got out in front of the NCAA, which eventually had the Tigers vacate every victory from his last season.
So the Tigers aren't very good, but they did start a young lineup -- three sophomores, a junior and one senior -- and no matter how bad it got, and it got bad early in the second half (61-39 at one point) the Tigers played hard.
Only a few thousand saw it in person, but the Hogs didn't play down to the competition. They started hard and unselfish. Those are critical to their future success.
Sports on 01/15/2017