FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Trevon Brazile had 19 points and 11 rebounds, Khalif Battle scored 21 off the bench and Arkansas held on to beat No. 7 Duke 80-75 on Wednesday night.
The Razorbacks (5-3) stayed in the game early with defense, ultimately limiting Duke to 36% shooting. But it was a scoring run midway through the second half that finally broke things open.
Neither team led by more than three in the first 28 minutes of the game, which included 16 lead changes. But then Arkansas went on a quick 7-0 spurt in 59 seconds just before the under-12 timeout in the second half, prompting a Duke timeout as the Razorbacks’ lead grew to eight.
Three minutes later, Duke coach Jon Scheyer burned another timeout, his team trailing by 13 after Brazile’s blocked shot was taken the other way and finished for a layup.
Duke (5-2) cut Arkansas’ lead to four with 46 seconds left by going on a 10-2 run, but Arkansas went 4 of 6 at the free-throw line down the stretch to stave off a collapse.
Preseason All-American Kyle Filipowski was held to three points for the Blue Devils in the first half. He played a key role in the late rally, though, finishing with 26 points and 10 rebounds.
Chandler Lawson had seven points, eight rebounds and six blocks for Arkansas. Battle scored 15 in the second half.
BIG PICTURE
A five-point loss on the road to a likely NCAA Tournament team in one of the SEC’s toughest environments isn’t a cause for alarm.
The Razorbacks could find themselves back in the AP Top 25 next week. Arkansas started the season at No. 14 but fell out of the poll after losing two in a row in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
UP NEXT
Duke starts Atlantic Coast Conference play Saturday at Georgia Tech.
Arkansas hosts Furman on Monday.
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