Mike Anderson saw his team lead by just a point against Louisiana Friday night.
But Arkansas answered in the second half to pull away with a 76-63 win at Bud Walton Arena.
The Razorbacks (2-0) used a 17-3 run over the final 5:49 to pull out the 13-point win.
“First of all, we were glad to get the win against a very good basketball team in Louisiana,” said head coach Mike Anderson. “They came out with great energy, made shots, the first six shots. We were kind of in a hole where I thought we didn’t come out with the energy that you’ve got to come out with. Give our guys credit. They hung in there and hung in there, I thought the wear and tear of keeping guys coming at you made a difference. I thought during the second half fatigue was a big factor in it. We had one of those spurts right there at the end. That’s the great thing about how we play. You don’t know when it’s coming, but if you can just kind of hang around and hang in there, eventually it will come.”
Alandise Harris led Arkansas with 19 points off the bench while Michael Qualls added 16 points. Bobby Portis poured in 14 points in just his second game as a Razorback.
Rashad Madden scored three points, all of which came from the free throw line, as he played 17 minutes after being suspended for the start of the season for a violation of team rules.
Louisiana (2-1) got a game high 27 points from Elfrid Payton while Shawn Long and Elridge Moore combined for 22 points.
Arkansas will host SMU on Monday at 7 p.m.
