Khalif Battle scored a career-high 42 points and Arkansas pulled away down the stretch for an 88-73 victory over Missouri on Saturday afternoon in Fayetteville, Ark.
Battle enjoyed the best showing of his collegiate career by shooting an efficient 11-of-15 from the field. He also made 6-of-10 3-pointers and was a perfect 14-of-14 from the foul line to help Arkansas (14-13, 5-9 Southeastern Conference) win consecutive games for the first time since capturing three in a row from Dec. 16-30.
Battle entered the game averaging 10.6 points per contest this season. He shot 3-of-15 in Tuesday’s 78-71 win at Texas A&M.
He surpassed his previous career best of 32 set against Central Florida on Feb. 21, 2021 when he was at Temple. He joined Texas A&M’s Wade Taylor IV as the second player in the SEC with a 40-point game this season, and notched the first 40-point game for the Razorbacks since Mason Jones hit that total against Auburn on Feb. 4, 2020.
Battle produced the seventh-highest scoring game in school history after entering the game shooting 35.1 percent this season.
Makhi Mitchell added 13 and Tramon Mark contributed 10 as the Razorbacks shot 48.1 percent from the floor.
Sean East II scored 33 points but Missouri (8-19, 0-14) set a school record with a 14th straight loss. It has four games left to avoid becoming the first team to go winless in SEC play since Vanderbilt in 2019-20.
Nick Honor added 14 points and Tamar Bates contributed 11 as the Tigers shot 39.2 percent and stayed in the game by hitting 28-of-30 free throws, including their first 18.
Arkansas scored 11 straight points and Layden Blocker’s 3-pointer opened a 30-22 lead with 4:04 left but the Razorbacks settled for a 36-34 halftime lead after East sped past three defenders for a baseline layup at the buzzer. After a basket by Davonte Davis gave the Razorbacks a 41-34 lead early in the second half, Honor’s fourth 3 of the game capped a 10-0 run with 15:52 left.
Consecutive 3s by Battle matched his career high and staked Arkansas to a 59-52 lead with 9:13 left. Battle then hit a 3 from well behind the 3-point line and finished off a four-point play to extend the lead to 65-54 with 6:58 left.
Battle surpassed 40 points with a nifty reverse layup around three defenders for a 69-59 lead with 4:55 left.
–Field Level Media