Brazile leads Razorbacks to marquee win over Louisville in breakout style

Turning around rebounding flips fortune for Arkansas against No. 6 Cardinals behind big night by key performers

Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile (7) drives to the basket as Louisville Cardinals guard J’Vonne Hadley (1) defends during the first half at Bud Walton Arena. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Five different Razorbacks hit double figures as No. 25 Arkansas defeated No. 6 Louisville 89-80 as part of the ACC/SEC Challenge Wednesday.

Arkansas led for all but 27 seconds and never trailed in the second half but did see a 20-point first half lead get cut to five late in the second half. Here are three instant takeaways.

"We needed another good game like this to see where we got to get better late in the game," coach John Calipari said. "They made a run and made us make our plays, and we did some good stuff to make sure that we could finish the game off."

Brazile emerging as team's X factor:

Early signs indicate that Arkansas will go as far as their longest tenured player will take them. Trevon Brazile scored 14 of his team-high 21 points in the first 9 minutes.

Brazile's ability to get inside and hit three-pointers caused problems for Louisville's defense from the jump.

Coming into the night Brazile averaged 15.5 points and 8.3 rebounds in Arkansas' four wins with him in the lineup.

Brazile missed the Central Arkansas win with back spasms. In the two losses, Brazile's averaged just 7 points and 6.5 rebounds.

"We were just taking what the defense gave us," Brazile said. "That high ball screen, we knew that was going to kill them the whole night and we were just getting downhill from there, and it worked out well for our team."

Arkansas finally manages to out-rebound top team

The Razorbacks struggled in the two losses to Michigan State and Duke, losing the rebounding battle handily both times by an average of 10.

This time Arkansas flipped the script with seven different players with at least 4 rebounds, including a season-high 9 from Malique Ewin. It was Ewin's best performance since transferring from Florida State. In two matchups last season against Louisville, Ewin averaged 18 points and went a combined 16-for-21 from the floor (76%).

" I went back and I watched both Florida State-Louisville games last year." Calipari said. "And I’m like, where’s this guy? No fadeaways, no crumbling of the legs when I shoot it. No missing 2 footers. He balled and rebounded and played through bumps. I showed him the clips. I gave it to him and I said, ‘Watch it tonight, watch it tomorrow morning, watch it before the game. That’s who you need to be."

Arkansas won the battle on the glass 46-36 and made no mistake taking advantage of their second chances winning the second-chance points battle 27-9.

The Razorbacks also cleaned up most of their sloppy turnovers and took advantage of Louisville's mistakes more often, scoring 14 points off 9 Cardinal turnovers while Louisville scored just 7 points on 10 Arkansas turnovers.

Freshmen still effective despite poor shooting

The freshmen guard duo of Meleek Thomas and Darius Acuff Jr. had one of their least efficient shooting nights in their young careers. The two combined to go 10-for-28 from the field (35%) and just 1-for-8 beyond the arc.

The two still combined for 34 points mostly by getting to the free throw line. The two combined to go 13-for-16 from the charity stripe.

Arkansas got to the free throw line at a much higher rate than the Cardinal, nearly doubling the number of free throw attempts, 35 to 18. Acuff also had a career-high 10 assists.

Arkansas came into the night looking for a statement win to put on the tournament resume. The ACC is much improved compared to last season. The SEC won 14 of the 16 games against the ACC last year. This year, through 12 games, the challenge is tied 6-6.

The Razorbacks now make their yearly excursion to North Little Rock to take on the Fresno State Bulldogs. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday and will be streamed on SEC Network+.