Arkansas shoots past UC Davis from deep

wireready_11-13-2018-05-44-02_03264_razorbacksbasketball

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP)   Mason Jones scored 21 points and shot 4-for-7 from behind the three-point arc to lead the Arkansas to an 81-59 victory over UC Davis in the Razorbacks’ home opener on Monday night.

Arkansas’ young backcourt put together its second-consecutive impressive showing in the scoring column. Isaiah Joe added 14 while Adrio Bailey did most of his damage in the second half, pouring in 16 of his career-high 20 points.

Daniel Gafford, a Preseason All-SEC first-team forward, dealt with double teams every time he got the ball in the post, but still had 12 points, four rebounds and four blocks.

Arkansas (1-1) jumped out to an 11-0 lead, but UC Davis’ offense finally kicked in, making it a manageable 37-30 deficit at halftime. The Aggies (0-3) threatened to mount a comeback with a seven-point stretch just over four minutes into the second half, but a Gafford dunk at the 12:46 mark served as a launching point for the Razorbacks to finish things off.

T.J. Shorts, the reigning Big West Player of the Year, led UC Davis with 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

BIG PICTURE

Arkansas: The Razorbacks continued their perhaps-unusual tendency to shoot well from the three-point line but poorly from the free-throw stripe. The 8-for-20 clip from deep brought their average to just over 38 percent in two regular season games, while the 27-for-41 struggle at the charity stripe moved them to 60.2 percent in those two contests plus two exhibitions.

UC Davis: Though the Aggies have lost three straight to open the season, their increased competitiveness has showed up on the scoreboard. After losing by 34 in their season-opening game to San Francisco, they were able to mostly hang around against an SEC opponent on the road. With 10 upperclassmen on the roster, the Aggies expect to be a tough matchup in Big West play after a grueling non-conference schedule that also includes games at Indiana, Arizona and USC.

UP NEXT

Arkansas welcomes Big 10 opponent Indiana to Fayetteville on Nov. 18.

The Aggies return home to face Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Saturday.

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