Darius Acuff Jr. totaled 21 points, nine assists and no turnovers while lifting No. 15 Arkansas to a come-from-behind 83-79 win over Oklahoma on Tuesday in Norman, Okla.
The Razorbacks (16-5, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) have won four of their past five games while the Sooners (11-10, 1-7) have dropped seven in a row.
With 1:27 left, Nijel Pack hit a long 3-pointer from straight away to put the Sooners up 79-77.
Then Arkansas’ freshman star, Acuff, came alive.
First, Acuff drew a foul at the rim from Tae Davis, and he hit 1 of 2 free throws to pull the Razorbacks within one.
Acuff grabbed the rebound off Xzayvier Brown’s missed 3-point attempt moments later, then drove all the way to the rim, finishing through a foul by Mohamed Wague. He completed the three-point play at the line to put Arkansas up 81-79 with 20 seconds to go.
The Razorbacks put the game away at the free-throw line, where they finished 11 of 13 after going just 7 of 18 there in a Saturday win over LSU.
Arkansas freshman Maleek Thomas added 16 points.
Pack scored 22 points to lead Oklahoma. Davis contributed 14, and Wague compiled nine points and 12 rebounds.
The game was back and forth for the first 10 minutes before Oklahoma broke out with a 14-2 run.
The stretch ended with a second consecutive turnover by the Razorbacks, followed by Brown’s tip-in of a missed dunk to put the Sooners up 38-25.
Pack scored eight of his 16 first-half points during the stretch. He shot 6 of 8 from the field before the break, hitting 4 of 6 3-point attempts.
Arkansas steadily closed the gap throughout the rest of the half, hitting 8 of 11 shots to get back in the game.
The Razorbacks ripped off eight consecutive points, cutting the deficit to two on back-to-back buckets from Nick Pringle before Brown’s jumper just ahead of the break sent the Sooners into halftime with a 48-44 lead.
Arkansas shot 61.3% from the field in the first half but was just 1 of 7 from beyond the arc.
Oklahoma’s offensive struggles late in the half continued into the second, as the Sooners went nearly six minutes into the second period before hitting a field goal as the Razorbacks went back in front with an 11-4 run coming out of halftime.
–Field Level Media
