GAME STORY: No. 19 Arkansas throttles Maryland-Eastern Shore, 109-35, on Monday at Bud Walton Arena

By Kevin McPherson

Nineteenth-ranked Arkansas was a runaway freight train on Monday in a brutally lopsided 109-35 Feast Week win over unranked mid-major Maryland-Eastern Shore in a non-conference matchup at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, marking the Razorbacks’ fourth consecutive win while concluding a four-game homestand.

It also established the first four-game winning streak for the Hoop Hogs since the 2022-23 season, and their 74-point winning margin was the largest of the season — and third largest in program history. It was the first time the team managed to reach a winning margin of 20 or more points so far in ’24-25.

Next up for Arkansas (5-1) is another Feast Week matchup as the Razorbacks will take on Illinois (5-1) of the Big 10 on a neutral court in what is being dubbed the Turkey Throwdown on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, 3 p.m. CT, T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City, Mo., CBS).

The Razorbacks are 5-0 on the season at home, 0-1 in neutral-site games, and have yet to play a true road game. Arkansas improved to 2-0 all-time against Maryland-Eastern Shore (2-7) with the Hogs’ previous win over the Hawks, 100-40, coming at home during the ’00-01 campaign.

Coming off a 79-67 home win over in-state Division 1 foe Little Rock on Friday, the Hogs used a 28-0 run for a 47-8 lead at the 4:49 mark against MDES en route to a 60-15 advantage at halftime, and Arkansas continued to pour it on in the second half.

The Razorbacks came in ranked 10th nationally in KenPom.com’s defensive efficiency ratings, and they were stifling on defense against the undermanned and outclassed Hawks.

The Hogs held the Hawks to 14-of-61 shooting from the field (23.0%), including 4-of-26 from 3 (15.4%). MDES made 3-of-8 free throws (37.5%). Arkansas blocked 5 shots while collecting 9 steals en route to dominating turnovers (19-4) and points-off-turnovers (31-0).

The Hogs also owned points-in-the-paint (46-20); fastbreak scorng (18-5); assists (23-3); rebounds (49-30, including a 9-7 win on the offensive boards); second-chance-points (15-8); and bench scoring 39-18).

Offensively, Arkansas made 40-of-72 field goals (55.6%), including 15-of-34 from 3 (44.1%), and 14-of-17 free throws (82.4%). The 4 turnovers were by far a season low for Arkansas

Freshman wing Karter Knox came off the bench to score a career-high 21 points (8-of-14 field goals, including 3-of-8 from 3, and 2-of-2 free throws) while leading seven Razorbacks in double-figure scoring as starting guards Nelly Davis and Boogie Fland each had 16 points, starting center Zvonimir Ivisic and freshman reserve wing Billy Richmond II each chipped in 14 points, starting guard DJ Wagner put in 13 points, and starting forward Adou Thiero contributed 11 points.

Knox added 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block to his game-high 21 points. Fland made both of his three-point attempts, authored a game-high 6 assists, and had 1 steal to go with his 16 points. Davis made 4-of-7 from 3 while adding 5 rebounds. 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block to his season-high 16 points. Ivisic shot 3-of-6 from 3 as he also contributed 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals to go with his 14 points. Richmond had a career-high 9 rebounds in concert with his career-high 14 points. Wagner made 3-of-7 from 3 and added 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals to his 13 points. Thiero had 5 assists, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals to go with his 11 points.

Junior forward Trevon Brazile (ankle) did not play against Pacific or Little Rock last week, but he did suit up and play against MDES on Monday as he finished with 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist in 12 minutes off the bench.

Four more Hogs made their ’24-25 season debuts in the closing minutes on Monday: guard Casmir Chavis (2 points), guard Ayden Kelley (1 rebound), guard Kareem Watkins (1 rebound), and guard Melo Sanchez.

Arkansas senior big man Jonas Aidoo — he played sparingly off the bench (20 combined minutes) against Lipscomb, Baylor, and Troy to open the season after missing both of the team’s exhibition contests with an undisclosed injury — did not play against Pacific or Little Rock last week nor did he play against MDES on Monday.

“We respect every opponent,” Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman said following the win. “We don’t necessarily fear anybody, but we respect every opponent. We respected them. We understand how they played against Murray State. We understand how they played against ODU. We understand that in the Illinois game it was 10-10 for a while, and whatever the score was at half (35-15 Illinois). So it wasn’t like everybody has just gotten out on them. That team will win some games in their league. For us, it’s about our standard, and keeping our standard at one level and not dropping our standard.

“Defensively, we’re one of the best teams in the country and we want to continue to hand our hats on how we are defensively. And a lot of stuff that we do defensively, it doesn’t matter who we play, because it’s our scheme. It’s our schematics and it works. As long as we’re in the right spots and we’re doing what we teach, it’ll work against anyone. Obviously, the score got a little bit out of hand tonight and we went zone out of respect for them and the coach (Cleo Hill). We didn’t want to necessarily just run the score up. But we wanted to continue to work on us. It was an opportunity for us to get better, and I think that we did that.”

Heas Hog John Calipari started Wagner, Fland, Davis, Thiero, and Ivisic against the Hawkss.

Davis had 13 first-half points while Knox had 12 and Ivisic 10 to lead the Razorbacks in the first half.

The Hogs shot 22-of-33 from the field (66.7%), including 7-of-12 from 3 (53.8%), and 9-of-11 from the free throw line (81.8%) in the opening 20 minutes. Defensively, Arkansas limited MDES to 6-of-28 overall from the field (21.4%), including 2-of-14 from 3 (14.3%). The Hawks hit 1-of-2 freebies (50.0%) in the first half.

Arkansas won rebounds (22-11), turnovers (11-2), points-off-turnovers (19-0), points-in-the-paint (28-8), and fastbreak scoring (12-0) in the opening half.