FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For about nine minutes Saturday, Gonzaga could barely buy a bucket.
Arkansas had no such problem. The Razorbacks put together a 24-3 stretch that turned a 10-point hole into an 11-point lead.
A freshman ended up putting it away. Davion Thompson’s step-back 3-pointer helped No. 12 Arkansas hold off No. 15 Gonzaga 76-72 at Bud Walton Arena.
Sure, it was an exhibition. The last two minutes didn’t play like one.
With the win, the Hogs are 77-11 all-time in exhibition games.
They’re 68-9 in home exhibitions. That home winning streak is up to 41 straight.
How Hogs flipped a 10-point deficit
Gonzaga led 36-26 late in the first half.
That’s when Arkansas closed on a 9-0 run. Abdou Toure had five of those points.
So instead of a double-digit hole, the Zags only led 36-35 at the break.
The run carried right into the second half. Arkansas forced a turnover on the first trip, and Thompson turned it into a layup and a one-point lead.
Nine straight points opened the half. That grew into a 15-3 run over the first 6:39.
By the 14:21 mark, it was 50-39 Razorbacks.
Do the math and Gonzaga scored three points in nearly nine minutes. You don’t see that from a top-15 team very often.
Gonzaga keeps hanging around
The Bulldogs didn’t fold. They got it back to 52-49 with 10:39 left.
JJ Andrews hit a 3. Billy Richmond III hit another on the next trip down.
Arkansas stretched it to 66-55 with 6:46 to go.
Gonzaga wasn’t finished, though. An 11-2 run made it 68-66 with 2:59 left.
Miikka Muurinen scored on a layup. Braden Huff answered right away.
After that, neither team scored for 1:16.
Thompson ended the drought. Arkansas was up two with the shot clock under five seconds. He stepped back at the top of the key and knocked it down to make it 73-68 with just over a minute left.
Richmond leads the way
Richmond made 1-of-2 at the line with four seconds left, and that was the 76-72 final.
That free throw gave him 17 points, tops on the team. He also had seven rebounds and five assists.
Most of it came late. He scored 12 of his 17 after halftime.
Thompson finished with 12. Andrews and Muurinen had 10 each.
Two Hogs came up just short of double-doubles. Andrews had nine rebounds to go with his 10 points, and Cooper Bowser had 10 boards and nine points.
Huff gave Arkansas fits all afternoon. He had 19 points and 11 rebounds, and 15 of those points came in the second half.
Cleaner second half for Arkansas
The first half wasn’t pretty. Arkansas shot just 36.4% from the field.
Ten turnovers didn’t help either.
The Hogs did have seven assists on 12 made baskets. And what kept them close was the 3-point line, where they went 5-of-10 while Gonzaga went 2-of-14.
The Zags won the first-half rebounding battle 25-20. They grabbed an 11-9 lead with 13:40 left in the half and kept it until intermission.
Toure had eight first-half points to lead Arkansas. Jeremiah Wilkinson and Muurinen added seven apiece. Izan Almansa had eight for Gonzaga.
After the break, things cleaned up. Arkansas turned it over only twice and had eight assists.
Andrews was a big part of that with eight points and seven rebounds in the second half alone.
Lineup notes and what’s next
Jordan Smith Jr., Wilkinson, Richmond, Muurinen and Bowser got the start.
Arkansas won the tip, and Muurinen opened the scoring with a short jumper.
At the first media timeout, all five starters came out. Thompson, Toure, Andrews, Maper Maker and Caleb Ourigou checked in.
There’s one more exhibition left. Memphis comes to Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday, Oct. 28.
Tipoff is at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
