FAYETTEVILLE — The 25th-ranked Auburn basketball team handed Arkansas its most lopsided home loss in the 31-season history of Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.
The Tigers (12-2) won their seventh consecutive game with an 83-51 victory in the SEC opener for both teams.
Arkansas (9-5) had a three-game win streak snapped and opened SEC play with a loss for the third consecutive season.
It was a historic day for the Razorbacks, and for all the wrong reasons. The 32-point final margin was Arkansas' worst since the arena opened in November 1993, and the second-worst loss for a Razorbacks team at home.
According to HogStats.com, Arkansas' worst home loss came Dec. 1, 1951, when the Phillips 66ers won 74-39. That game was played four years before the opening of Barnhill Arena, the Razorbacks' 37-year home that predated Walton Arena.
"I don't know what it means to that locker room," fifth-year Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said when told it was the worst loss in arena history. "I know what it means to me. I know the history of this program. I have incredible respect for everybody that has coached here, everybody that's played here. That's a 'wow' statement."
Prior to Auburn's win Saturday, Florida had the most lopsided win by a visitor at Walton Arena, a 98-68 decision on Feb. 18, 2012.
Before that, the Razorbacks' worst loss there was by 22 points to Auburn in 2009.
"Doing it at a place like this, or if you could do it at Rupp [Arena in Kentucky] or if you could do it at Tennessee, it does mean more," 10th-year Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said, "because those are some of the toughest places in the SEC to play."
The 32-point margin also matched Arkansas' worst in 33 seasons of SEC play. The Razorbacks lost 75-43 at Florida in 2011 and 78-46 at Mississippi State in 2016.
Those were road games, not in Fayetteville where Arkansas has been dominant, including 63-9 under Musselman.
"Give Auburn a ton of credit," Musselman said. "They came in here and they kicked our butts. I mean, that's quite obvious."
The Razorbacks were not competitive after the Tigers closed the first half on an 11-3 run to take a 37-30 halftime lead.
Many of the announced crowd of 19,200 began heading for the exits during a media timeout with 6:35 remaining and Arkansas trailing 69-46.
Things did not get better from there for the home team. Arkansas missed 8 of its final 9 shots and did not score in the game's final 4:07.
The Razorbacks had one of their worst offensive showings of the year by shooting 18 of 58 (31%) from the floor. Arkansas even missed 6 of its first 8 free throws and finished 8 of 15 at the line.
"I think the key is to defend without fouling," Pearl said. "Arkansas does a really good job of going to the rim. We defended without fouling, and they missed some shots inside that they normally make or go to the line."
Auburn held the Razorbacks scoreless for more than three minutes to open the game. Keyon Menifield and Trevon Brazile sparked a quick 11-3 run that brought the crowd to life with 14:41 remaining before halftime.
Trailing 11-5, Auburn coach Bruce Pearl called timeout after Menifield hit a deep three moments following a tomahawk dunk by Brazile.
Then the Razorbacks went cold again and did not make another field goal for nearly four minutes.
The teams traded leads late in the first half, but Auburn closed with a flurry to take command of the game. A pair of free throws by Chad Baker-Mazara with 3:52 before halftime gave the Tigers a 28-27 lead they did not relinquish.
Baker-Mazara scored 14 of his game-high 16 points in the first half on 5-of-8 shooting. His big half helped the Tigers make up for a cold start by their leading scorer Johni Broome, who was scoreless before halftime.
"I thought we played good in the first half — not good, but we played decent enough to give ourselves a chance," Musselman said. "We did not play the end of the first half very well at all. Just the competitive fiber, it wasn't there for 40 minutes."
Broome scored 14 points in the second half. He added a game-high eight rebounds.
Jaylin Williams and Tre Donaldson also scored 11 points apiece for Auburn, which shot 34-of-70 (48.6%).
The Tigers won big in virtually every category, including rebounds (46-32), bench points (46-9), paint points (48-18) and turnovers forced (13-7).
Arkansas finished 6-of-27 shooting in the second half and was outscored 46-21 after halftime.
Menifield led the Razorbacks with 14 points on 5-of-15 shooting, including 4-of-9 from three. Brazile added 11 and Tramon Mark had 10.
Arkansas is scheduled to play at Georgia on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Central.