It wasn’t pretty, but it was a victory.
No. 15 Arkansas rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit in Tuesday’s season-opener and beat Mercer,74-61, in Bud Walton Arena.
Preseason All-SEC guard JD Notae led all scorers with 30 points. He shot 11 of 26 from the field and 5 of 14 from 3-point range. Pittsburgh transfer Au’Diese Toney added a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Miami (FL) transfer Chris Lykes chipped in 16 points, all but two of which came in the second half.
Arkansas started the final 20 minutes on a 14-2 run and used 13 Mercer turnovers in the half to score XX points.
James Glisson III and Kamar Robertson led the Bears with 12 points and Mercer made 13 of 31 from downtown to keep things interesting.
Arkansas hosts Gardner-Webb on Saturday at 2 p.m. in its next game.