Arkansas scored early and often in racing to a 101-73 victory over Bucknell at Bud Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks jumped out to a 56-35 lead at halftime and kept the momentum going in the second half in downing the talented Bison.
Jaylen Barford fueled Arkansas with 27 points, while fellow senior Daryl Macon added 21.
Freshman big man Daniel Gafford added 15 points in only 16 minutes of play.
Another DOMINANT performance against a team picked to win their league.
2-0 on the year. ?#DIALEDIN pic.twitter.com/PY20QXt9Vw
— Arkansas Razorbacks Basketball (@RazorbackMBB) November 13, 2017
Bucknell got 24 points from Zach Thomas, who also added 10 rebounds on the night.
The Hogs dominated the paint, scoring 54 points in the lane and out-rebounding the visitors by 16 overall.
Lovell’s Analysis
It’s not a stretch to say that the Razorbacks have been the SEC’s most impressive team on opening weekend (let’s throw Texas A&M right up there with them).
And honestly, we could take that a step further and say that the Hogs have possibly been the most impressive team in college basketball.
Of course, only Arkansas and Kentucky have played multiple games to this point, but it was more about how dominant Mike Anderson’s team was against solid mid-major competition.
Both Bucknell and Samford are teams that expect to win their respective conferences this season, so to earn a 28-point win and a 39-point win over those two squads is saying something.
But it’s how the Razorbacks won that make it feel like this team has already found its identity.
Scoring off of turnovers has always been a staple in Anderson’s “Fastest 40” style of play, and Arkansas is already doing plenty of that this season.
If that continues, this team will win a lot of games.
Anderson has a team built on scary athleticism, and that’s showing already in Arkansas’s ability to defend at a high level and attack the boards with a lot of aggressiveness.
Macon and Barford are already showing why they’re one of the best duos in the country, and few teams will be able to keep both players from creating havoc on both sides of the court.
The Hogs get one more tune-up before heading to the juggernaut tournament that is the PK80, and that will come against Fresno State on Friday.
And while that PK80 field is loaded with good teams, if the Razorbacks play like they have in the first two games, they’ll have a legitimate shot at winning the whole thing.