It took a very long time to put High Point away, however head coach John Calipari and Arkansas are making a return journey to the Sweet 16.
Arkansas, after a battle with No. 12 High Point, pulled away behind an enormous 36-point outing from star Darius Acuff Jr. because the No. 4 Razorbacks picked up a 94-88 win over the Panthers on the Moda Center in Portland. It was Arkansas’ second straight journey to the Sweet 16 since Calipari took over.
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High Point hung in there within the first half, and even took the lead over Arkansas briefly down the stretch after Chase Johnston drained a 3-pointer on the wing. Johnston barely touched the ball earlier than he fired.
Arkansas ended up taking a one-point lead into the locker room. The Razorbacks shot 49% from the sector within the first 20 minutes, however couldn’t get a lot separation from the Panthers.
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Arkansas lastly pulls away
Acuff was attempting to create far from the Panthers for practically all the second half, it simply took him awhile to pull that off.
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It appeared like he practically bought it carried out early, after he fought via contact and transformed a tricky and-one layup simply contained in the five-minute mark. That put the Razorbacks up by seven factors, which was their largest lead of the sport.
But the Panthers reduce it again to a single possession a minute later when Rob Martin drew a foul on a fast-break layup. He tied it up a possession later with a straightforward layup, which bought him to 30 factors on the night time.
Then High Point’s pictures stopped falling. Johnston missed back-to-back 3-point makes an attempt, and Martin had one blocked. Arkansas got here up with a number of stops in a row, which proved to be the important thing. Then Acuff drained a 3-pointer, a bucket that was sufficiently big to push the Razorbacks to the win.
Acuff had six assists with his 36 factors. He shot 11-of-22 from the sector and had simply two turnovers all night time. The freshman, who earned consensus All-American honors and was the SEC’s Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, averaged 23 factors and 6.6 assists per sport this season.
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Martin had 30 factors and 5 assists to lead the Panthers, who beat Wisconsin on a late layup within the remaining seconds within the first spherical. That marked this system’s first NCAA match win in historical past. Cam’Ron Fletcher added 25 factors and eight rebounds off the bench, and Terry Anderson completed with 15 factors.
Arkansas will now tackle both top-seeded Arizona or Utah State within the Sweet 16 subsequent weekend in California. A win there would ship Calipari, who’s competing in his fifteenth profession Sweet 16, into the Elite Eight for the primary time since 2019 when he was with Kentucky.
Even although Saturday’s outing was removed from the blowout win they posted within the first spherical, the Razorbacks are nonetheless standing. If Acuff pulls out one other efficiency like he did towards the Panthers, there’s no telling how far this system can go this March.