FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson never has lost back-to-back nonconference home games in 14 seasons as a head coach, including stops at Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri.
The Razorbacks made sure it didn't happen Friday night when they beat Charleston Southern 93-75 before an announced crowd of 6,764 at Walton Arena.
Arkansas (2-1) bounced back after losing to Akron 88-80 at home Wednesday night.
"That's the hardest I've seen Arkansas play this year," Charleston Southern Coach Barclay Radebaugh said. "You could tell in warmups they were very focused.
"Coach Anderson had them very ready to play. I thought they played with a great deal of tenacity. Arkansas was locked in."
Arkansas point guard Jabril Durham said none of the players got any sleep after losing to Akron.
"We had a really bad taste in our mouth from the previous game," Durham said. "We had to get back to Razorback basketball, and that's playing active and playing defense and running the floor.
"This game we wanted to hit them in the mouth right from the get-go."
Junior guard Dusty Hannahs led Arkansas with 21 points and shot 5 of 5 on three-point attempts.
"I haven't seen a better shooter in college basketball in a long time," Radebaugh said.
Radebaugh said he made a point after the game of telling Hannahs how proud he was of the Arkansas guard, knowing he had to earn his shooting performance with endless hours of work.
"That's cool," Hannahs said. "I appreciate that compliment.
"It's gratifying to hear your work means something to someone."
Hannahs hit 7 of 9 shots.
"Dusty didn't have to force anything," Anderson said. "I thought the shots came in the flow of the offense.
"Guys were willing to make the extra pass. That's the unselfishness of our team."
Durham had 11 assists along with 7 points and 4 rebounds.
"Jabril is a pass-first point guard," said senior guard Anthlon Bell, who had 12 points for the Razorbacks. "He doesn't worry about scoring.
"He's got eyes in the back of his head. He sees everything."
Arkansas junior forward Moses Kingsley had 15 points and junior guard Manny Watkins and freshman guard Jimmy Whitt had 14 points each.
"We had a lot of guys play some quality minutes," Anderson said. "We got our bench really involved."
Akron shot 51 percent against Arkansas, including 13 of 28 on three-point attempts.
Anderson the Razorbacks were embarrassed by their defensive effort and determined to play better Friday night.
"The other night I thought we were trying to win with offense," Anderson said. "Tonight our defense was the big difference."
The Razorbacks shot 54.2 percent from the field [32 of 59] and held Charleston Southern to 34.8 percent [23 of 66].
The Bucs were playing their fourth game in eight days and third on the road. Last week they lost at No. 9 Wichita State 88-63 and at Stanford 93-59.
"Arkansas is the most athletic team we've played," Radebaugh said. "They've got elite athletes, and they're in tremendous shape.
They come so quickly at you, and that was a big factor in wearing us down. We had no chance to get in our press let along execute it."
Senior guard Demetrius Potter led the Bucs with 20 points.
Arkansas outscored Charleston Southern 36-17 over an 11:50 span, including eight points each from Bell and Hannahs, to take a 43-23 lead with 4:04 left in the first half.
The Razorbacks led by as many as 29 points, 70-41, with 11:13 left.
Arkansas improved to 41-2 in non-conference games under Anderson as the Razorbacks won their seven consecutive game after a loss going back to last season.
"I'm sure losing to Akron was not what they expected and I know they wanted to come out and give a great performance tonight, and I thought Arkansas did have a great performance," Radebaugh said. "They have good balance and pretty good depth."
The Razorbacks started their third different lineup in as many games, with Bell making his first start and Keaton Miles back after Trey Thompson started against Akron.
Durham, Kingsley and Whitt have started all three games.
"This is a team that's a work in progress," Anderson said. "But I think tonight we took another step in growing."
Sports on 11/21/2015