By Otis Kirk
Special to the News-Times
FAYETTEVILLE - Arkansas trailed 6-5 with 16:52 to go in the first half, but a layup by Adrio Bailey seven seconds later gave the Razorbacks the lead back and they never trailed again on their way to a 95-56 win over Samford in the season opener in Bud Walton Arena on Friday night in front of 8,054 fans.
The Razorbacks came out smoking from the field.
They were led by senior guard Daryl Macon who was 4-of-5 from 3-point land in the first half.
The Hogs shot 53.8 percent on 3-point shots in the first half, making 7-of-13.
Macon, who finished with 16, helped the Hogs to a 47-19 lead at halftime.
While he only scored two points in the second half, he added seven assists to finish the game with eight.
He talked about becoming more a distributor in the second half.
"That's something I had to add my game to be complete," Macon said. "One thing I love doing is getting my teammates involved especially we've got a lot freshmen out looking a little nervous."
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson was pleased with the effort of his team, which looked much better in this game than they did the two exhibition contests.
"That first game, you never know how your guys are gonna come out," Anderson said. "But I thought defensively we couldn't have come out any better. We were active, in passing lanes, disruptive and we didn't let Samford do what they wanna do."
Samford coach Scott Padgett, who played in Bud Walton Arena with Kentucky, knew his team had walked into a tough place early on.
The way the Hogs came out there was no chance of the Bulldogs catching them on an off-night.
"I would just call that a good, old fashioned punking," Padgett said. "Coming into the game, their strength was their athleticism and quickness. It proved to be the difference."
In addition to Macon, Arkansas was led in scoring by Jaylen Barford, who also had 16, including 14 in the second half.
Bailey added 15, Anton Beard had 14 and Daniel Gafford and C.J. Jones finished with 10 each.
Trey Thompson added eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Bailey started the game just as he has the two exhibition games and was pleased with how the team played and talked about his own performance.
"I guess you could just call me a junkyard dog," Bailey said. "I'm just playing my role. I'm not trying to do extra stuff or anything I'm not capable of doing."
The Razorbacks still had just nine scholarship players, but all got to play and make a contribution on Friday night.
Two true freshmen, Darious Hall and Gabe Osabuohien, got their first taste of regular season college basketball, as did Gafford. Osabuohien finished with two points and Hall had three. Walk-on Jonathan Holmes added one point.
Alex Thompson led Samford with 10 points, as he was the only Bulldog in double figures.
Samford shot 32.8 percent from the field compared to 57.1 for the Hogs.
Arkansas finished the game making 40.9 percent from 3-point range while Samford shot 17.6.
The Hogs finished with 28 assists and forced 19 turnovers.
Arkansas also won the battle of the boards 35-32.
Arkansas will return to the court on Sunday at 5 p.m. to host Bucknell.