Connor Vanover finished with 19 points and 7 rebounds and Arkansas blew past Gardner-Webb 86-69 on Saturday in Bud Walton Arena.
Vanover, who did not play in the Razorbacks' season-opening win against Mercer on Tuesday, scored 12 first-half points. He also played a key role in a 27-5 Arkansas run to end the first half that helped the Razorbacks cruise to their second win of the season.
The 7-3 forward also finished with 2 assists and 3 blocked shots.
JD Notae, who scored a game-high 30 points against the Bears earlier in the week, added 18 points on 7 of 13 shooting and 4 of 7 from 3-point range.
Davonte Davis rebounded from a scoreless season opener with 10 points and 6 assists, matching a career high. Stanley Umude chipped in 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench.
The Razorbacks' next game is Wednesday, Nov. 17 against Northern Iowa, which is 0-2 this season with losses to Nicholls St. and Vermont.
We will have more from today's game later on WholeHogSports.com.
3:43, 2H - Arkansas 79, Gardner-Webb 57
The Razorbacks' offense has slowed over the last few minutes as Eric Musselman works in new pieces. Kamani Johnson hit a free throw moments ago. That is the team's only point since the last stoppage in play.
Jaxson Robinson has missed his last three looks from 3, but each one of them looked great. Want him to keep firing away. He's not going to take bad shots.
Jaylin Williams and KK Robinson each have 3 assists in the second half.
7:22, 2H - Arkansas 78, Gardner-Webb 47
Trey Wade has all 5 of the Razorbacks' points since the last break in the action and Arkansas has its biggest lead of the day at 31.
The Razorbacks will be a tough team to beat when they shoot the 3 like they are today. Arkansas is 12 of 19 from deep and seven players have made at least one.
8:28, 2H - Arkansas 73, Gardner-Webb 47
The Razorbacks' offense has been overwhelming since about the 6-minute mark in the first half.
Jaxson Robinson is now getting it on the fun, hitting a pair of 3s in a 2-minute span. JD Notae is also up to 18 points, second only to Connor Vanover's 19.
Jaylin Williams has 5 assists again. Arkansas is rolling after a sluggish start.
11:41, 2H - Arkansas 61, Gardner-Webb 41
Connor Vanover has 19 points to lead the Razorbacks, but JD Notae is coming alive offensively and Davonte Davis also has 10 points and 6 assists. The 6 dimes for Davis ties a career high set against LSU (at home) and Georgia last season.
Vanover and Jaylin Williams each have 7 rebounds, and Williams has handed out 4 more assists after he had 5 in the season opener. Arkansas is plus-28 today with him on the floor.
Stanley Umude is having a much better day today. He has 9 points and just added a score off a post-up on the left block and a dunk assisted by Davis. He also has 3 rebounds.
Arkansas' lead is 20 despite the Runnin' Bulldogs shooting 6 of 10 since halftime. The Razorbacks are 7 of 13 from the floor.
15:33, 2H - Arkansas 51, Gardner-Webb 34
Connor Vanover opened the second half with a nice jumper from the right short corner against the Runnin' Bulldogs' 2-3 zone. They got out of it on Arkansas' next trip down. Vanover is up to 19 points and 7 rebounds.
The 19 points are his second most in a Razorbacks uniform. He had 23 in the season opener last year. Davonte Davis has 10 points and 5 assists.
Jaylin Williams assisted on Vanover's most recent 3-ball. He has 3 assists.
Half: Arkansas 42, Gardner-Webb 26
Connor Vanover leads with 12 points and has 5 rebounds for Arkansas after drawing a DNP in the season opener against Mercer on Tuesday. He's been active, featured in the offense and also gotten a couple of buckets off hustle plays and tip-ins.
Davonte Davis is playing lights out. He has 8 points and a game-high 5 assists that sparked a late-half surge.
The Razorbacks once trailed 21-15 after a Kareem Reid and-1 for the Runnin' Bulldogs then closed the half on a 27-5 run. Davis scored 5 points, JD Notae added 5 points and Vanover pitched in 4 during a 14-0 portion of the run.
Notae, for the half, scored 8 points after a semi-slow start. Three of his four scores came at or around the rim and he also drilled a 3 from the left wing to give Arkansas a 22-21 lead.
Stanley Umude, who did not start today, has 5 points and 3 rebounds.
Reid has a team-high 12 points for Gardner-Webb. Lance Terry is second on the team with 5 points.
3:26, 1H - Arkansas 29, Gardner-Webb 21
The Razorbacks are on a 14-0 run and have their biggest lead of the game.
Davonte Davis and JD Notae each have 5 points during the run and Connor Vanover added 4. Davis and Notae each hit a 3 and pitched in a layup. Davis has hit both of his attempts from deep so far.
Vanover and Davis lead all scorers with 8 points.
8:02, 1H - Arkansas 15, Gardner-Webb 15
Davonte Davis' first bucket of the season, like we all expected, was a 3-ball from the top of the key in Game 2. Au'Diese Toney then split a pair of free throws, tying the game, after he was fouled posting a defender on the right block.
JD Notae has not scored and only put up 2 shots so far, both misses from 3 on the left wing following nice shot fakes. Both were really quality looks.
Lance Terry leads all scorers with 5 points. Gardner-Webb is 6 of 15 shooting as a team and has turned the ball over 4 times. Razorbacks are shooting 35.3% and have 5 turnovers.
11:44, 1H - Gardner-Webb 13, Arkansas 11
The Runnin' Bulldogs are 5 of 11 from the floor and 2 of 5 from 3-point range in the early stages and have a lead at the under-12 timeout. Gardner-Webb forward Kareem Reid has 4 points on a pair of nice scores around the rim.
Arkansas is 5 of 14 shooting and has missed both 3-point attempts. The Razorbacks have played 8 guys so far and 7 have taken a shot. JD Notae misfired on his first look, a left-wing 3 after lifting his defender off his feet with a shot fake.
Connor Vanover has 4 points, Jaylin Williams 3 and Au'Diese Toney 2. Chris Lykes also has 2 points. Lykes, though, fouled a 3-point shooter in the left corner in front of Arkansas' bench again. Second time in as many games that he's done that.
15:43, 1H - Arkansas 7, Gardner-Webb 5
Connor Vanover leads the Razorbacks with 4 early points on 2 of 5 from the floor. He has been featured a lot in the offense to this point. Arkansas has posted him on the left block 3-4 times and he's attempted 3 turnaround jumpers, which I like.
He also had a right-corner 3 rim out after a nice find by Jaylin Williams.
Au'Diese Toney has 2 points, grabbing a loose ball after an errant entry pass into Vanover. Davonte Davis finally attempted a shot – a layup in the lane that missed. Vanover, though, tipped it back in.
Chris Lykes is already off the bench for Arkansas, replacing JD Notae.
Arkansas' starting lineup: Davonte Davis, JD Notae, Au'Diese Toney, Jaylin Williams and Connor Vanover.
The Razorbacks enter today's game off their season-opening win against Mercer on Tuesday. Notae led all scorers with 30 points and Toney added an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double in his official debut.
It will be interesting to see how Davis responds to a zero-shot opener in which he also had a handful of turnovers that were almost all forced. Stanley Umude is out of the starting 5 after a subpar showing on Tuesday.
Arkansas posted an impressive 17.5% steal rate in Game 1. That figure ranks 10th in the country, according to KenPom data. Mercer also only rebounded 14.3% of its misses. That's a good number for the Razorbacks.
Jaylin Williams did not start Tuesday, but he is in the lineup today. He had 4 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 turnovers, 2 blocks and 1 steal against the Bears.
Today is Vanover's first start since the NCAA Tournament game against Colgrate. He did not play against Mercer.
Gardner-Webb's starters: Lance Terry (6-2), D'Maurian Williams (6-5), Zion Williams (6-4), Kareem Reid (6-9) and Jordan Sears (5-11).
The Runnin' Bulldogs lost their season opener at UNLV on Wednesday, but they fought hard and gave the Runnin' Rebels a test through the final minute. Gardner-Webb lost 64-58.
UNLV was held to 2 of 25 from three-point range, so the Razorbacks' perimeter players will have a nice challenge today. Arkansas finished its opener 6 of 21 from deep. JD Notae alone was 5 of 14.
The players to watch for Gardner-Webb are Terry and D'Maurian Williams, who scored 13 and 21 points on Wednesday, respectively. Williams added 10 rebounds as well.
Zion Williams finished with 8 points and 11 rebounds. Arkansas has to do a good job keeping the Runnin' Bulldogs' guards off the glass. However, UNLV had success grabbing its missed shots, finishing with an offensive rebound rate of 34.7%. That may be an area the Razorbacks can take advantage.