FAYETTEVILLE — The 14th-ranked Arkansas men’s basketball team tipped off the season with authority Monday night.
The Razorbacks defeated Alcorn State 93-59 to win their 36th consecutive home non-conference game. Arkansas is 34-0 against non-conference teams at Bud Walton Arena under fifth-year coach Eric Musselman.
Playing his first official game back from ACL surgery last winter, forward Trevon Brazile had three dunks within the game’s first seven minutes to set an aggressive tone for the Razorbacks (1-0).
Brazile, who was named to the watch list for the Nasmith Trophy watch list earlier in the day, scored 13 points and had 6 rebounds in 22 minutes before he was ejected with 10:48 remaining for leaving the bench after a hard foul.
Alcorn State forward Willie Anderson was assessed a Flagrant 1 when he took Arkansas guard Khalif Battle to the floor. Brazile was escorted to the locker room by assistant coach Ronnie Brewer during the official review of the play.
Battle made both free throws to give the Razorbacks a 70-39 lead. He hit two more free throws with 9:20 remaining, then left the floor to a standing ovation 15 seconds later and did not return to the game.
The transfer from Temple scored a game-high 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting in his official Arkansas debut. Battle made 3 of 6 three-point attempts and was 8 off 9 at the free-throw line.
Battle scored 12 points and Tramon Mark, a transfer from Houston, had 13 of his 16 points in the first half as the Razorbacks built a 46-22 lead at halftime.
Arkansas never trailed. Moments after he won the opening tip off, Brazile took a pass on the left wing from guard El Ellis, put the ball on the floor to his right, drove to the basket and dunked one-handed over 6-10 Alcorn State center Alex Tsynkevich.
Battle also had an impressive dunk early on a lob from freshman guard Layden Blocker. His and-1 free throw gave the Razorbacks a 24-10 lead with 10:34 remaining before halftime.
Arkansas carried over strong shooting numbers from the preseason. The Razorbacks went 28 of 54 from the floor, 12 of 30 from three-point range and 25 of 37 from the free-throw line.
After struggling to rebound during an Oct. 28 exhibition against Purdue, Arkansas won the board battle 44-26 against the undersized Braves (0-1), the back-to-back champions of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
The Razorbacks had 14 offensive rebounds that led to eight second-chance points. After missing both preseason games with back spasms, Jalen Graham led Arkansas with 8 rebounds and also scored 8 points in 14 minutes.
The Braves committed 16 turnovers that Arkansas converted into 22 points.
Alcorn State shot 20 of 51 overall and 3 of 9 from beyond the arc. Jeremiah Gambrell led the Braves with 17 points and Byron Joshua added 12.
The Braves were without Jeremiah Kendall, a preseason first-team All-SWAC selection.
Arkansas is scheduled to return to action Friday with a game against Gardner-Webb in Fayetteville. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.