FAYETTEVILLE — A big second half by senior guard Khalif Battle helped carry the Arkansas basketball team to a 97-83 victory over Furman on Monday night in Bud Walton Arena.
Battle scored 20 of his season-high 25 points in the second half and surpassed 1,000 for his career, which also included stops at Butler and Temple before he transferred to Arkansas this year.
“I had a big second half scoring, but I think anybody on the team can do what I did,” said Battle, who has 1,022 career points. “I need to do the little things, because we didn’t win by a big enough margin.
“A thousand points is cool, but we’ve got to do better. Me individually, but us as a team as well.”
Battle has played off the bench in all nine games this season, but he started the second half and the first 10:11 after halftime he scored 15 points to 17 for Furman to help the Razorbacks’ push their lead to 70-53.
“We were just shuffling guys in and out in the first half based on defensive assignments,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said of Battle playing seven of the first 20 minutes. “But we tried to run plays for [Battle in the second half].
“We brought him off a staggered [screen] a couple times. We ran some isolations at the top of the key. We found him in transition.
“I mean, he’s a dynamic scorer. There’s not many players in college basketball that can have 20 in a half.
“Certainly, he can create his own shot. He’s a high-volume free-throw attempt player.
“When your team needs points in a hurry, he just rises up over people. If you crowd him, he beats you off the bounce and draws free throws.”
More from WholeHogSports: Coverage of the Razorbacks' win over Furman on Monday
Battle hit 7 of 11 shots, including 4 of 7 three-pointers, and 7 of 8 free throws.
“He’s good,” Furman Coach Bob Richey said. “I watched him on film. I mean, he’s really, really, really talented.
“We tried to keep him off his right hand and we didn’t do a good job of that tonight. He still got to it.”
The Paladins struggled to stay in front of Battle without fouling him.
“One of the game plans was to attack the rim,” Battle said. “I liked my matchup that I had, and as a team we try to expose matchups, so I attacked early.”
The Razorbacks had 21 assists.
“And credit to these guys, they kept giving me the ball, kept feeding me,” Battle said. “As I would do for them if they had a mismatch or whatever the case may be.
“I can’t take credit for that. That’s all them for putting me in position to score.”
Arkansas senior forward Chandler Lawson, a transfer from Memphis, scored a career-high 19 points and had 3 rebounds and 3 blocked shots in 17 minutes.
The Razorbacks (6-3) also got big games from sophomore forward Trevon Brazile (13 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocked shots), senior guard Davonte Davis (7 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists) and freshman guard Layden Blocker (9 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists).
Junior guard JP Pegues led Furman (4-5) with 21 points and junior forward Alex Williams scored 20.
The Paladins hit 12 of 32 three-pointers — including 5 of 9 by Williams and 3 of 9 by Pegues — to stay within striking distance of the Razorbacks, who shot 60.7% (37 of 61) and hit 8 of 19 three-pointers.
“They shot the ball well, but I think as a team, we just have to stop letting guys think they play with us early,” Battle said of Arkansas leading 40-35 at halftime. “I think we have to start punching first.
“When we start doing that, we’ll start winning by bigger margins, and that falls on everybody. We’re all accountable, but we’re all going to grow from it and get better.
“I’m glad it’s happening early, so by SEC time or the later games in the season and March Madness, we can clean up some of those things. And we will. We’re going to work on it as a team.”
Arkansas led by as many as 20 points, 73-53, when Brazile hit a three-pointer, but the Paladins pulled within 88-80 with 1:12 left on Pegues’ three-pointer.
Battle helped the Razorbacks hold off Furman by hitting two free throws with 41 seconds left to push Arkansas’ lead to 93-83 for his final points of the game.
Battle’s career high for points is 32 against South Florida during the 2020-21 season when he played at Temple. His season high before Monday night was 21 points, which he scored in four games.
“I’m glad KB got to 1,000 career points,” said Davis, who has 1,012 career points. “We know KB can do whatever we need on the court — playing defense, getting a bucket.
“We just want to make sure we, as a team, win these games and win them in the right way.
“If we do that, everyone is going to eat. We all know that for sure.”
Battle is used to coming off the bench, because the previous four seasons he had 19 starts in 69 games.
“It doesn’t matter to me if I start or come off the bench,” Battle said. “We have more than just five starters on the team. It can be anybody’s night.
“When coaches call on you, you’ve got to be ready. My name was called, so I was ready.”
Especially in the second half.