GAME STORY: No. 23 Arkansas flips grind game into 92-62 rout of Oakland at BWA

By Kevin McPherson

FAYETTEVILLE — No. 23 Arkansas clinched a perfect December and remained unbeaten at home thanks to the Razorbacks’ convincing 92-62 victory over Oakland in their non-conference finale on Monday at Bud Walton Arena.

Starting freshman guard Boogie Fland poured in a game-high 24 points (23 in the second half, and he connected on a career-high 5-of-8 shooting from 3) while starting junior 3/4-combo forward Adou Thiero scored 20 points (16 in the first half) with starting freshman wing Karter Knox chipping in 17 points (10 in the first half) as the Razorbacks built a 15-point lead, 60-45, roughly seven minutes into the second half before blowing the doors off in the closing minutes to win by 30 points.

Arkansas (11-2, NCAA NET No. 43) has won six consecutive games — ALL coming in December without a blemish, and the winning streak now includes three wins at BWA — as part of a 10-wins-in-its-last-11-contests stretch. The last time the Razorbacks went unbeaten in the month of December was during the covid-shortened 2020-21 campaign.

The Hogs improved to 9-0 at home on the season (includes 8-0 at BWA). They’re 2-2 away from home (includes a 1-2 mark in neutral-site tilts and 1-0 in true road games).

Next up for the Razorbacks is their SEC opener at No. 1 Tennessee on Saturday, Jan. 4.

The win over Oakland (4-10, NCAA NET No. 223) moves Arkansas to 3-0 in the all-time series between the two programs.

The Razorbacks are 1-2 in Quad-1 games, 0-0 in Q2, 3-0 in Q3, and now 7-0 in Q4.

Fland shot 9-of-16 overall from the field, including the aforementioned 5-of-8 from 3, and 1-of-2 from the foul line for his 24 points to go with 6 assists, 2 rebounds, 0 turnovers, and a game-high boxscore plus-31 in 36 minutes.

“Well, his eye,” Arkansas head coach John Calipari said of Fland’s 0-of-7 first-half field goal shooting woes. “He said, ‘It was my eye,’ in the first half. So I told him he needs to shoot like this (CLOSES ONE EYE) the rest of the season then. So your eye in the second half just became better? They all laughed. I did say it in the huddle, he should shoot like that.”

Thiero knocked down 7-of-11 field goals, including 0-of-1 from 3, and 6-of-6 free throws for his 20 points to go with 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers, and a boxscore plus-29 in 30 minutes.

Knox made 6-of-8 shots, including 3-of-5 from 3, and 2-of-2 free throws to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 1 turnover in 28 minutes.

Also making contribuions to the Hogs’ win: Junior forward Trevon Brazile (9 points, 7 rebounds, a career- and game-high 6 blocks, and 3 turnovers in 25 minutes; starting sophomore guard DJ Wagner (8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 turnovers); freshman wing Billy Richmind III (8 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 2 turnovers); senior center Jonas Aidoo (6 points, 2 reboubds, 1 steal, 1 block in only 16 minutes due to illness); and freshman center Zvonimir Ivisic (2 rebounds and 1 block).

“Jonas was sick, just so you know,” Calipari said. “Probably shouldn’t have played him. Under the weather, so if you wondered, I was trying to get him in-and-out.

“I’m just trying to get us going. We got to get Z going, but I’ll tell you, we had a lot of good efforts today. And I’ll say this, 21 assists, if we can keep passing the ball to each other offensively, we become a pretty good team.”

As a team, Arkansas shot extremely well in both halves, finishing the game 35-of-58 overall from the field (60.3%), including 10-of-22 from 3 (45.5%), and 12-of-14 at the free throw line (85.7%).

Defensively, after the Golden Grizzlies shot 55.2% from the field in the first 20 minutes (mostly on deep paint finishes), Arkansas tightened its belt in the second half, blocking 8 shots while limiting Oakland to 8-of-31 field goal shooting (25.8%), including 1-of-12 from 3 (8.3%). For the game, the Grizz made 24-of-60 from the field (40.0%), including 2-of-17 from 3 (11.8%), and 12-of-18 from the free throw line (66.7%).

“I had different people playing (post defensive matchups in the second half),” Calipari said. “I put Adou on him. Adou’s physical. Same size and physical …”

The Razorbacks dominated fastbreak scoring (28-10), points-off-turnovers (21-11), bench scoring (17-6), blocks (10-3), and assists (21-9) while also winning total rebounds (33-28), second-chance-points (8-2), and steals (8-6). Oakland won offensive rebounds (11-6) and points-in-the-paint (42-38).

Forwards Buru Naivalurua (18 points and 9 reboubds) and Allen Mukeba (17 points and 6 reboubds) led the way for the Golden Grizzlies. Double-digit-scoring guards Malco Christie and DQ Cole were held to a combined 15 points and a collective 2-of-14 shooting from 3.

Following back-to-back lopsided wins over North Carolina A&T (95-67 on Dec. 21) and Central Arkansas (82-57 on Dec. 14), the Hogs faced a much stiffer challenge for at least a half against unranked mid-major Oakland, which has now lost 6 of its last 7 outings.

With senior starting guard Johnell “Nelly” Davis (wrist soreness) missing his second consecutive game, Calipari started Fland, Knox, Thiero, Aidoo, and Wagner.

Arkansas built an 8-point lead at 25-17, but Oakland chipped away before claiming a 33-31 advantage with 3:30 remaining in the first half. The Razorbacks outscored the Golden Grizzlies 11-6 from there to take a 42-39 lead at halftime.

Thiero had 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block while Knox contributed 10 points to lead the Razorbacks in the first half.

The Hogs shot 16-of-28 from the field (57.1%), including 3-of-9 from 3 (33.3%), and 7-of-8 from the free throw line (87.5%) in the opening half. Oakland shot 16-of-29 overall from the field (55.2%), including 1-of-5 from 3 (20.0%) in the first half. The Golden Grizzlies hit 6-of-8 freebies (75.0%) in the first half.

Arkansas won rebounds (14-10) and fastbreak scoring (11-6) but lost turnovers (9-5) and points-in-the-paint (30-22) in the first half.

“I don’t know yet,” was Calipari’s answer when asked if Davis will return for the SEC opener at top-ranked Tennessee on Saturday.