LEXINGTON, Ky. — De'Aaron Fox scored a game-high 27 points and No. 6 Kentucky dominated Arkansas after halftime for a 97-71 win Saturday at Rupp Arena.
The Wildcats (13-2, 3-0 SEC) outscored the Razorbacks 56-33 in the second half. Kentucky made 57 percent of its field goal attempts and 20 free throws after halftime.
"De'Aaron Fox is ridiculous," Kentucky coach John Calipari said. "He's been doing extra work. He's been coming to practice early, not by choice, and he has really been working and it showed in the game."
Arkansas (12-3, 1-2) was whistled for 31 fouls and Kentucky made 28 of 40 free-throw attempts.
The Razorbacks led multiple times in the first half and pulled within 41-38 at halftime after a 3-pointer by Moses Kingsley.
"Before (the) half, it was tremendous effort by our guys," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. "But we all know the game is 40 minutes. We didn't do our part in the second half."
Arkansas never threatened after halftime as Fox continually got easy looks at the basket. Kentucky's freshman point guard had 16 points after halftime and also finished with six rebounds and six assists.
"I was efficient today and I think it was due to me practicing more," Fox said. "There's a lot of conditioning in those workouts, so I was never tired and I think it showed."
The Wildcats outscored the Razorbacks 46-32 in the paint and out-rebounded Arkansas by 15.
Jaylen Barford scored 14 first-half points for Arkansas, but was held scoreless after halftime. Barford picked up three fouls - including a double-technical along with Fox - during an 11-second stretch early in the second half.
Daryl Macon led Arkansas with 15 points. Kingsley added 14 points and seven rebounds. Dusty Hannahs scored only six points on 2 of 12 shooting, and missed all five of his 3-point attempts.
Derek Willis and Isaiah Briscoe each scored 15 points for Kentucky, while the SEC's leading scorer and Arkansas-native Malik Monk added 12 points and Bam Adebayo 11 points.
"It's really hard playing against your hometown team," Calipari said of Monk.
"Even if he isn't making shots, teams are still going to guard him," Fox added. "When things aren't going his way, it would turn into a one-on-one with my defender and I think I won that battle a lot."
The Razorbacks are scheduled to play again Tuesday at home against Mississippi State (10-4, 1-1).
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report