MEN'S BASKETBALL: Robinson, Johnson, Wade Spark Hogs on both Ends of the Floor for 81-55 win
With SEC play looming soon, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman desperately needed to find chemistry, effort, and defense and he was willing to play 11 players in the first 15 minutes to try to find it.
It looked like no one might answer the call until Jaxson Robinson, Kamani Johnson, and Trey Wade stepped it up on defense while taking over the game on offense.
The rest of the team followed as Arkansas used defense to create offense the rest of the way.
The Razorbacks built a 30-point lead at 68-38 with seven minutes to go, but the Phoenix, true to their name, ran off a 13-0 run in a three minute span to make things mildly interesting down the stretch.
Arkansas responded by shutting Elon out the final 3:29 of the game.
KEY PLAYER WATCH
Notae started the game with a pair of threes and shot 50% for the half. He cooled a bit in the second half to 33% from the field and behind the arc to finish with 15 points.
Chris Lykes led all scorers with 21 points fueled by 12-of-12 shooting from the free throw line.
Michael Graham started game 6-of-6 for Elon with 10 points in first nine minutes of the game.
Robinson shot 3-of-4 from three and added a block in the first half en route to a 15 point night.
Johnson also knocked down 15 points while collecting a team-leading seven rebounds and three blocks.
Wade also had three of the Hogs' 10 blocks while adding seven points. He was second on the team in +/- behind only Notae.
HIGHLIGHTS
FIRST HALF
Zach Urban came in and immediately hit a three to put Elon up 10-8.
Darious Burford drove the lane and hit a floater over Lykes to put the Phoenix up 21-19 with 7:25 left. He then came back down and hit another three to keep Elon ahead after Lykes tied it up at the line.
Chris Lykes started the game 8-of-8 at the free throw line.
Johnson powered his way down the baseline to hit a tough reverse lay-up that got the crowd in the game for the first time. The energy picked up on defense, leading to a turnover and a transition three by Robinson to complete the comeback for the lead at 28-26 with four minutes left in the half.
A Robinson three created by Wade's penetration, followed by a Robinson block on defense, put Arkansas up 33-26. Wade then blocked a three and stayed with the hard defense to force a shot clock violation as part of a 12-0 run with just over a minute left in the half.
SECOND HALF
The Hogs hit a stretch early in the first half where the put together a 9-0 run to extend the lead to 47-30.
Elon finally got to the free throw line for the first time with 13:12 left in the game.
Johnson and Wade got standing ovations from the crowd as they came out for breather about seven minutes into the half.
A K.K. Robinson steal led to a transition three by Notae to make it 63-38 with 8:42. A Jaylin Williams touch-pass lob to Trey Wade on the following fast break capped a 17-0 run.
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