Razorbacks bounce back with 76-57 win over Missouri

The No. 23 Arkansas men’s basketball team coasted to a 76-57 victory over the Missouri Tigers behind senior forward Stanley Umude’s 23 points Tuesday in Columbia, Missouri.

“We were playing with real good pace today,” Umude said in the postgame press conference. “We were moving it, looking at second and third options on offense. We were taking care of the ball for the most part. We’re really tough to beat when we’re playing offense like that.”

The Razorbacks sprinted out to an early 19-4 lead. The Tigers brought the lead down to single digits momentarily, but an Arkansas run put the Hogs up 39-22 with 3:25 left in the half. The Razorbacks grew their lead to 19 points, going into halftime with a 46-27 advantage.

The Hogs flirted with a blowout a few times in the second half, but could not keep the Tigers at bay. Arkansas went ice cold from the floor, failing to score for over six minutes and allowing Missouri to cut the Razorback lead to 57-46 during that span.

The Hogs went on another run to regain some breathing room, culminating in an Umude jumper that put the Hogs up 67-48 with 3:41 left and virtually closed the door on the Tigers’ hopes for a comeback. Arkansas played clean basketball the rest of the game and ran out the clock for the win.

Umude performed excellently, especially from deep. He hit six of his nine 3-point attempts and was 8-13 from the field. Umude becoming more consistent with his stroke from 3-point range is a massive boon for the Razorbacks, because he has shown the ability to take over games with that shot.

“We went to him the last 4 ½ minutes of the game,” Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said. “He is a really tough cover because he can shoot the ball and he can score inside. He opens up dribble drive angles for other players.”

Senior forward Trey Wade had a disappointing showing in the Razorbacks’ previous game against Alabama, but brought some much-needed offensive skill Tuesday. He hit five of his seven attempts from the field, earning 12 points, and was the Hogs’ best player on the floor for stretches.

Wade has had defensive versatility since becoming a Razorback starter, but if he can continue to carve out an offensive role for himself as he did in Columbia, he will become more valuable to an Arkansas team that sometimes looks lost on offense.

“He was phenomenal,” Musselman said. “We play him, even though he might have a lot of zeros (on the box score), but it’s because he does all the intangible things. He was a really big key to our winning streak. He came out aggressive.”

Senior Au’Diese Toney started the game Tuesday, but only logged six minutes. His four fouls played a role in the lack of playing time, but Tuesday’s game marked two straight disappointing performances for the transfer from Pittsburgh.

Arkansas will return to Bud Walton Arena to take on the red-hot No. 16 Tennessee Volunteers, who are fresh off of an upset over No. 4 Kentucky. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m. Saturday and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.