FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Au’Diese Toney scored 19 points and Arkansas never trailed to win its sixth straight, beating West Virginia in an SEC/Big 12 Challenge game, 77-68 on Saturday.
Arkansas is now 4-4 in the challenge series, going 4-0 at home and 0-4 on the road. The Razorbacks are now 2-0 against West Virginia, winning their first meeting 71-64 on Nov. 26, 2006 to win the Old Spice Championship.
“Au’Diese Toney was absolutely phenomenal,” Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said. “We ran no plays for him tonight. He was 6 of 8 from the field, 7 of 8 from the foul line, seven rebounds and 19 points. I think he’s in a comfort zone now.”
The Razorbacks (16-5) led by as many as 19 points in the second half after JD Notae’s layup with 16:06 to play, but West Virginia rallied, getting within five points after a 13-0 run capped by a Jalen Bridges layup with 12:24 to make it 54-49.
“I’m proud of our guys,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “We were down a bunch, but we didn’t quit. We fought and we fought.”
Toney answered with five straight points to push the Razorbacks’ lead back to double digits and Jaylin Williams added a three-point play to make it an 8-0 run for a 62-49 advantage. The Mountaineers (13-7) got within 68-62 on Sean McNeil’s 3-pointer with 4:44 left, but Arkansas again pushed its lead back to double digits until Taz Sherman’s layup with :24 seconds left got West Virginia within nine with its final points.
Arkansas had a commanding rebounding advantage, 44-26, and scored 36 points in the paint. The razorbacks also went 28 of 34 from the foul line.
“What did we talk about the past two days? We had to get some free throws and rebound,” Musselman said. “If we did not get rebounds, we weren’t going to win, flat out. You better go rebound or you’re not going to win. I thought we were phenomenal.”
Williams grabbed nine rebounds in the first half as the Razorbacks took a 38-29 lead and finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season, adding two steals and a pair of blocked shots. His 15 rebounds was a career high.
Notae finished with 15 points and Stanley Umude added 12 points and eight boards.
Kedrian Johnson, who came into the game averaging 4.5 points per game, led West Virginia with a season-high 18 in just his second game scoring in double digits. Sherman finished with 15 points and three steals and Malik Curry added 11 points off the bench.
“Obviously, he’s been in the gym,” Huggins said of Johnson. “We had a good conversation after the Texas Tech game about guys not being in the gym and guys not working on their craft. It’s kind of like taking an exam without studying for it. If you take an exam without studying or paying attention in class, you’re probably going to fail.”
Arkansas travels to face Georgia on Wednesday. West Virginia will look to break its five-game losing streak Monday at No. 4 Baylor.
