FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas’ first game back from the Maui Invitational was as challenging as fourth-year coach Eric Musselman expected.
The 11th-ranked Razorbacks took a strong punch from Troy, but found their way late in the second half to secure a 74-61 victory over the Trojans on Monday in Bud Walton Arena.
Ricky Council scored 11 points to spark a 17-0 run after the Trojans went ahead 58-55 with 6:53 remaining. Council, the SEC's leading scorer, finished with a season-high 27 points.
Council scored on three consecutive possessions as the Razorbacks (6-1) took the lead for good. He had back-to-back driving layups to give Arkansas a 59-58 lead, then drained a three-pointer from nearly 30 feet as the shot clock wound down to put the Razorbacks ahead 62-58 with 4:34 to play.
Troy, which entered the game with road wins over Florida State and Montana under its belt, led the Razorbacks for 20:22 in the game. The Trojans took a 33-31 lead into halftime.
In the first half, Troy guard Nelson Phillips had a game-high 12 points on 4 three-pointers, leading his team’s charge from beyond the arc. The Trojans made 6 of 14 first-half attempts from deep.
With 6:06 to go before halftime, guard Christyon Eugene made a layup to give Troy a 25-18 lead. Arkansas responded with a 10-2 run fueled by forward Makhi Mitchell and Council to grab a 28-27 edge.
The Trojans, though, scored six of the final nine points in the half to hold a lead at halftime.
After the break, the Razorbacks, at the time, took their largest lead of the game at 53-46 with 11:39 remaining on Missouri transfer forward Trevon Brazile’s alley-oop dunk that was assisted by freshman guard Anthony Black.
Troy regrouped after a timeout and went on a 12-2 run to take the 58-55 lead with 6:53 to play. The Trojans only scored three points the rest of the way.
Council scored seven consecutive points before Kamani Johnson came up with a steal, got fouled and made a pair of free throws. Council added another short shot to make it an eight-point game with 3:10 remaining.
Arkansas led by as many as 14 points late.
Council made 12 of 18 shots and Black added 14 points and 8 rebounds. Makhi Mitchell finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Council outscored Troy 13-3 over the final 6:25. The Trojans were 1 of 8 from the floor in the final 5:04 of the game.
The Trojans were led by 22 points from Phillips, and they made 9 threes in the loss. Arkansas finished 3 of 11 beyond the arc.
The Razorbacks will return to play Saturday against San Jose State in Bud Walton Arena. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. on SEC Network.