FAYETTEVILLE — Moses Moody scored 21 points and Arkansas rolled to an 85-72 win over Abilene Christian on Tuesday and will head into Southeastern Conference play undefeated.
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman missed the game due to COVID-19 protocols and associate head coach David Patrick took over.
JD Notae added 19 points and Desi Sills 18 for the Razorbacks (8-0), who are scheduled to play Auburn on Dec. 30 in their first road game.
Sills had seven-straight points in an 11-0 run that made it 11-1 and his two free throws at the 12:12 mark put the lead at 19-8. Sills had 16 points in the first half and the Razorbacks shot 54% to take a 47-31 lead.
The Wildcats (7-2) trailed by as many 22 in the second half but cut the deficit to nine, 77-68, on a Clay Gayman 3-pointer with 3:27 to play. Notae connected from behind the arc for Arkansas' next two baskets to secure the game.
After shooting 39% in the first half, Abilene Christian shot 57% (16 of 28) to stay in the game.
Notae had three 3s and 17 points and Moody 12 in the second half for Arkansas, which came into the game averaging 90.7 points a game.
Gayman led the Wildcats with 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including four 3-pointers. Abilene Christian was only allowing 55.8 points and forcing 24 turnovers but Arkansas only gave it away 13 times.
EARLIER
Arkansas 85, ACU 72 - Final
Arkansas led by as many as 22 points in the second half Tuesday and hung on to beat a scrappy Abilene Christian team to improve to 8-0 on the season.
Moses Moody led all scorers with 21 points on 6 of 10 shooting and 6 of 8 at the free throw line. He scored 12 points in the second half, helping the Razorbacks fend off a Wildcats rally.
JD Notae added 19 points - 17 in the second half - and Desi Sills finished with 18 - 16 before halftime. Justin Smith scored only four points, but he grabbed 10 rebounds in the win.
Clay Gayman scored a team-high 18 points for Abilene Christian.
We will have more from today's game later on WholeHogSports.com.
Arkansas 80, ACU 68 - 2:01 left
Another less-than-ideal stretch of basketball defensively for Arkansas. ACU forward Clay Gayman has hit a pair of deep 3s to trim the Wildcats' lead to single digits.
The Razorbacks led by nine a moment ago, but JD Notae answered with a 3 of his own then Arkansas got a stop on the other end. Jalen Tate has not played since the 10:46 mark with an ankle injury.
Moses Moody leads with 19 points, Desi Sills has 18 and Notae 16 – 14 in the second half.
ACU is shooting 61% since halftime and has hit 4 of 9 from deep.
Arkansas 70, ACU 54 - 7:57 left
Moses Moody now has a game-high 19 points after he used his strength to wrestle away an offensive rebound from an ACU player and laid the ball up and in. He has been so, so good on the offensive glass this year. Arkansas gotten a lot of dirty-work points that way through seven-plus game, especially from Moody.
Connor Vanover also added a bucket off an offensive rebound. He has seven points on 2 of 5 shooting to go with three rebounds and a pair of assists.
Clay Gayman leads the Wildcats with 12 points. Joe Pleasant is also in double figures with 10. ACU is not going away quietly. It is a scrappy group, no doubt.
Arkansas 66, ACU 51 - 11:03 left
Not the greatest stretch of basketball defensively for the Razorbacks.
ACU is on an 11-4 run to cut its deficit to 15 at the under-12 media timeout. David Patrick, who is sitting in for Eric Musselman today, quickly called for time after Arkansas fell asleep in transition and allowed a layup.
Desi Sills has 18 points, Moses Moody is up to 17 after a second 3 since the break and JD Notae has 10. Jalen Tate has eight points and five assists against four turnovers.
Moody and Notae have 16 of Arkansas' 18 points since halftime. ACU is 8 of 14 shooting in the second half.
Tate went down with an ankle injury moments ago, too. He has been battling an ankle injury since the Southern game. Tate didn't put any weight on it as he hopped to the Arkansas bench.
Arkansas 56, ACU 38 - 15:57 left
Moses Moody has opened the second half in a big way, knocking down a midrange jumper right of the lane late in the shot clock and a 3 from the left side of the floor.
He has 14 points on 4 of 5 shooting and 4 of 6 at the line. I think he has really settled in after being a bit shellshocked by ACU's presser early on.
Desi Sills got a tough layup to go to begin the second half then picked up his third foul. He is currently sitting with a game-high 18 points. JD Notae hit two free throws, too, to push him to four points today.
Joe Pleasant has a team-high nine points for ACU.
Jalen Tate will be at the line when play resumes. He drove baseline and drew a whistle after lofting up a floater from the short corner area.
Arkansas 47, ACU 31 - Half
Really good half from the Razorbacks on both ends. Desi Sills leads all scorers with 16 points. His aggressiveness in the early stages of the game kind of set the tone for Arkansas in the first half.
Vance Jackson provided a nice lift off the bench, too, with five points, three rebounds and two assists. He looks like a completely different player today. He's added toughness and confidence to the lineup in his 14 minutes.
Arkansas did a lot of its damage without Justin Smith and JD Notae, who sat much of the half with foul trouble. That allowed KK Robinson, Devo Davis and Jaylin Williams to get some run, which was up and down.
Moses Moody has nine points and Jalen Tate has seven, but he turned the ball over four times. He had some pretty ugly mistakes in that half. But, overall, good work from Arkansas against a really scrappy, feisty team.
Joe Pleasant leads ACU with nine points, his season average. The Wildcats shot 39.4% in the first half and made only 1 of 11 attempts from 3.
Arkansas 43, ACU 23 - 3:12 left first half
Great four-plus minute stretch there offensively for Arkansas. Moses Moody added five points between the breaks, two at the foul line and he also hit a 3 on the right side of the floor.
Moody also assisted on a layup for KK Robinson, who made a nice backdoor cut to counter ACU's pressure on the perimeter. Desi Sills pitched in seven points during that span, hitting four free throws and a corner 3 off an assist from Vance Jackson, who has played really well today.
Sills has a game-high 16 points. He's been phenomenal.
Jalen Tate will be at the line when play resumes. He had his legs taken out from under him in the backcourt prior the media timeout.
Arkansas 29, ACU 15 - 7:57 left first half
To this point, Vance Jackson is having his best game since the season opener. He's confident, decisive and productive. He has five points on 2 of 3 shooting to go with a pair of rebounds and an assist on a Connor Vanover jumper.
Vanover, in addition to the right short-corner jumper he just knocked down, was fouled shooting a 3 from the left wing and buried all three free throws.
The Razorbacks are shooting 50% from the floor and holding ACU to 5 of 16 from the floor. Joe Pleasant and Clay Gayman each have five points for the Wildcats.
Arkansas 19, ACU 8 - 11:59 left first half
The Wildcats ripped off a 7-1 run to pull within 12-8 but the Razorbacks answered right back with a 7-0 run of their own.
Vance Jackson perhaps turned in his best, most aggressive moment of the season, taking an ACU defender off the bounce for a layup on a somewhat broken floor.
Desi Sills is up to nine points and Jalen Tate has four to go with four rebounds and three assists. JD Notae quickly picked up two fouls in his brief run, and KK Robinson entered not long after. This will be a good test for Robinson. The Wildcats guards are a quick and aggressive bunch.
ACU is 2 of 11 from the floor so far, and Arkansas is shooting 46.7%.
Arkansas 11, ACU 1 - 15:36 left first half
Desi Sills has a team-high seven points on 3 of 3 from the floor to go with a steal in the early going.
Jalen Tate and JD Notae each have a bucket for the Razorbacks as well. Notae knocked down a midrange jumper on the right side of the floor after his shot fake beyond the arc sent a defender flying. Tate also has four rebounds, three offensive.
Abilene Christian is 0 of 5 from the floor and has missed all three attempts from deep.
Arkansas 7, ACU 1 - 17:44 left first half
Desi Sills is off to a strong start with five early points. He scored his first bucket on a post-up then buried a 3 to force a Wildcats timeout.
Jalen Tate opened the scoring for the Razorbacks with a layup.
Six Abilene Christian players and a staff member kneeled for the National Anthem prior to the game.
Pregame
Arkansas' starting lineup: Moses Moody, Jalen Tate, Desi Sills, Justin Smith and Connor Vanover.
The Razorbacks will be without head coach Eric Musselman for today's game. He is out due to covid-19 protocols, according to a release. Musselman was informed Tuesday morning that a staff member tested positive for the virus, and he is considered a close contact.
Associate head coach David Patrick will serve as the team's interim head coach in Musselman's absence.
Abilene Christian's starters: Damien Daniels, Reggie Miller, Coryon Mason, Joe Pleasant and Kolton Kohl.
The Wildcats enter today's game 7-1 overall and their only loss came at Texas Tech on Dec. 9. Against Division I competition, Abilene Christian has turned opponents over at a 31% rate, which is good for second nationally. It is also shooting 43.8% from 3-point range in those games.
Mason and Pleasant lead the team in scoring at 9.9 per game, and Pleasant is third at 9.4 points per game. Abilene Christian carries in a plus-8.6 turnover margin.