It was a virtually perfect Thursday in Oregon for Arkansas, which is now a heavy favorite to make the Sweet 16.
The Arkansas basketball team went into the NCAA Tournament -- and Portland, Oregon -- knowing it got a raw deal from the selection committee. Asked to play on a Thursday, in the afternoon, out on the West Coast, after playing a Sunday SEC Tournament final, was simply not what this team earned or deserved. The Hogs should have gotten an extra day of rest, a closer travel location, and a night game. They were given none of those things. All they could do was prepare for and play against Hawaii.
They did so extremely well, winning a 97-78 blowout in which they were never challenged. Arkansas scored the first 11 points of the game and led 20-4 several minutes in. That was it. The Razorbacks were never seriously challenged the whole way, and they cruised to the finish line in a result which -- very helpfully -- enabled Darius Acuff to play fewer high-stress minutes and gather his strength for Saturday's second-round game in the Rose City.
Arkansas was simply too big, too strong, and too fast for Hawaii. This was men against boys, and it doesn't go much deeper than that. Arkansas fooled around at times in this game, shooting 3-pointers it absolutely did not need to attempt. The Hogs attempted 21 3-pointers and made only four of them. When they decided to attack, they were rewarded, making 35 of 51 2-point shots, just under 70 percent. Arkansas got what it wanted when it wanted to get it. The Hogs would have scored over 100 points if they hadn't chucked as many threes.
Arkansas used a six-man rotation, with DJ Wagner being the only substitute thrown into action by John Calipari (other than Isaiah Sealy's one garbage-time minute). Wagner played 30 valuable minutes, which enabled the five starters to all get some rest during the game. No UA player played more than 36 minutes (Acuff), and many of those minutes in the second half were played without any game pressure whatsoever. Arkansas had this game on lockdown throughout the second half.
Darius Acuff scored 24 points with 7 assists and just 3 turnovers. Three of his Arkansas teammates -- Malique Ewin, Trevon Brazile, and Meleek Thomas -- scored at least 15 points. Four players scoring at least 15 points in the same NCAA Tournament game is something which -- per the national television broadcast on TBS -- had not occurred in March Madness since 1990, a year when Arkansas reached the Final Four before losing to Duke in the national semifinals in Denver.
Arkansas advances to play 12th-seeded High Point on Saturday. We'll have a lot more on that story as the weekend continues in Portland.