Darius Acuff Jr. scored a career-high 29 points, reserve Meleek Thomas added 18 points, and No. 18 Arkansas pulled away from No. 19 Tennessee for an 86-75 victory in the SEC opener for both in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday afternoon.
Reserve center Malique Ewin had 12 points, six rebounds and four of Arkansas’ 10 blocked shots and Acuff and Thomas had three 3-pointers apiece for the Razorbacks (11-3, 1-0), who had lost eight of the previous 10 in the series.
Amari Evans had 16 points on 7-of-7 shooting, Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 14 points and Nate Ament had 13 for the Volunteers (10-4, 0-1), who had a three-game winning streak broken. Arkansas has won six of seven.
The Razorbacks had a big advantage at the free throw line, making 29 of 33 attempts. Tennessee was 12 of 23. Acuff was 8 of 9 from the line and Ewin was 8 of 8.
Ewin capped an 11-0 Arkansas run on two free throws with 6:11 remaining for a 66-58 lead, the largest by either team to that point, and the Razorbacks maintained a comfortable margin the rest of the way.
Treys from Karter Knox (11 points, seven rebounds) and Acuff gave them a 79-68 lead with two minutes left.
Arkansas had a 36-33 rebounding edge, and their 12 offensive rebounds led to 13 second-chance points. Tennessee had a plus-15 rebound margin entering the game, second in Division I.
Freshman Acuff has scored in double figures in all 14 games, the first Arkansas freshman to do that since 1981-82. He went to the bench with apparent leg cramps with 8:40 left and did not return until 5:29 left, with the Razorbacks leading 68-61.
Tennessee scored the first seven points of the game before Arkansas settled in with an 11-2 run keyed by eight points from Acuff. Thomas’ second 3-pointer gave the Razorbacks their largest lead of the half 27-20, lead with six minutes left in the first half.
Acuff’s short jumper gave Arkansas a 37-36 halftime lead.
