FAYETTEVILLE - Mardracus Wade never left Fayetteville over the summer in an attempt to better his all-around game.
As Arkansas nears Southeastern Conference play, it’s easy to see the sophomore’s dedication is paying dividends.
Wade scored 18 points to lead the Razorbacks to a 77-49 win over Texas Southern Friday night at Bud Walton Arena. The sophomore continued a season-long hot streak from beyond the arc, hitting four more 3-pointers to bring his season percentage to 49.2.
“It’s important we have somebody to knock shots down,” Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said. “And you go with the guy that has the percentage. He’s been knocking shots down, but he puts the time in.
“He’s worked extremely hard on it, and I thought we did a good job in transition early on really finding him and it allowed us to make shots and get into our defense.”
VIDEO: Mike Anderson – Texas Southern Postgame
Wade’s first 3-pointer gave Arkansas a 7-0 lead just 1 minute, 12 seconds into the game, forcing a Texas Southern timeout.
He scored 12 points before halftime, helping the Razorbacks (10-3) to a 39-19 lead at the intermission.
“He’s a threat out there and other team has to respect that,” Arkansas center Hunter Mickelson said, “and if they’re playing him pretty hard, that opens it up for all the other guys.”
While his shots were falling, Wade was also instrumental on the defensive end. He forced two of the Razorbacks’ 14 steals in the win.
Arkansas forced 25 turnovers and scored 30 points off the miscues.
“They were just really good today,” Texas Southern coach Tony Harvey said. “Our guard play is not the same as it was last year. I’ve got pups and they went into the lion’s den, and they weren’t ready for that heat. When you’ve got pups and you put them in that lion’s den, they’ll get eat up a little bit.”
Mickelson scored 13 points, blocked 7 shots and added 4 rebounds for the Razorbacks. The freshman has 31 blocks this season, which ranks second among SEC players.
“He continues to be a presence out on the floor,” Anderson said. “It’s nice when you can have a big guy impact the game without even scoring. It just so happened tonight he was scoring.
“You see a young guy starting to emerge a little bit, and that’s good for our team, espeically as we get closer an closer to conference team. He has a good skill set, but he’s nowhere near where he’s going to be. He’s still got a lot of work in front of him.”
Rickey Scott and Marvell Waithe each added 10 points in the win for the Razorbacks, which improved to 10-0 this season at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas has won its home contests by an average margin of 20.2 points.
Fred Sturdivant led Texas Southern with 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Tigers fell to 1-11 overall with their 10th consecutive loss.
You can follow Matt Jones on Twitter @NWAMatt.
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