FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Devon Agusi scored a game-high 20 points, but Arkansas scored 40 points off turnovers and never trailed in a 104-71 victory on Saturday night at Bud Walton Arena.
Agusi was 7-of-11 from the floor, including a pair of 3-pointers, and a perfect 4-of-4 from the charity stripe for his second consecutive 20-point outing to go along with six rebounds and an assist in 28 minutes. Jordan Sims and Hyjii Thomas each added 12 points for the Roadrunners (4-9), who shot 41.1 percent from the floor.
It was the team-leading 10th time that Sims scored at least 10 points this season, while Thomas registered double-figures for the first time since a 24-point outing on Dec. 7. In addition, Phillip Jones tallied five points and a career-high 10 rebounds, including nine on the defensive end, to help UTSA hold a 44-40 edge on the glass.
Meanwhile, Bobby Portis led the Razorbacks (11-2), which extended their winning streak to seven games and claimed their 23rd consecutive home win, with 19 points and 10 boards on a perfect 8-of-8 shooting night. Rashad Madden added 15 points, while Michael Qualls chipped in 11.
Arkansas shot 50 percent from the field, forced 28 turnovers and scored 48 points in the paint.
The Razorbacks opened the contest on fire, hitting seven of their first nine attempts while forcing four turnovers to grab an early 16-4 lead.
Agusi matched Madden’s basket to start the game before the Arkansas rattled off seven consecutive points. James Williams drove in for a jumper to stall the run, which was capped with a Portis layup following Coty Clarke’s steal.
Three straight free throws from Agusi and Edrico McGregor got the deficit to single-digits, 16-7, and an Agusi 3-pointer minutes later trimmed the Arkansas lead to 20-11.
Anthon Bell hit a jumper before a freebie from Thomas and the first of three first-half 3-pointers for Sims to pull within seven at 22-15, but that would be as close as the Roadrunners could get the rest of the way.
Bell stopped the UTSA momentum with a trey and the Razorbacks advantage swelled from 27-17 to 44-21 following a 17-4 run midway through the period.
Down 50-25 with less than five minutes to go in the half, Sims hit back-to-back 3-pointers to force an Arkansas timeout, but the Razorbacks would outscore UTSA 10-4 over the final 3:12 for a 62-35 halftime lead.
Agusi scored five quick points to start the second half to notch his second consecutive 20-point outing.
The Razorbacks maintained a healthy lead throughout the stanza and answered any UTSA run with a basket to keep the visitors at bay.
Trailing 82-50, Thomas scored seven consecutive points for the Roadrunners to make the score 82-57, but once again Arkansas stopped the run with a triple and would take the 104-71 victory.
UTSA will return home and open Conference USA play at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 9 against Marshall (5-9) at the Convocation Center.