Arkansas rolls past Hawaii and into NCAA Tournament second round
By David Wasson
Published:
Arkansas wasn’t about to let Hawaii hang around and make it interesting Thursday on the opening day of the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Razorbacks leapt out to an 18-point halftime lead en route to thumping the Rainbow Warriors 97-78 in a West Region first round game in Portland.
Arkansas (27-8) advances to play 12th-seeded High Point, which upset Wisconsin 83-82 earlier Thursday, in Saturday’s second round. Hawaii’s season ends at 24-9.
The Razorbacks scored the game’s first 11 points to quickly establish dominance and led by as much as 19 early before Hawaii chipped away at the deficit to nine points with 6:47 remaining before halftime. But Arkansas held the Rainbow Warriors to just nine points in the final five minutes of the first half and led 54-36 at the break.
Hawaii wouldn’t get any closer in the second half, trimming its deficit to 11 at one point early before the Hogs stretched it back out to 20.
SEC Player of the Year Darius Acuff Jr. led all scorers with 24 points along with seven assists. Meleek Thomas scored 21 points and Trevon Brazile added 19 for Arkansas – which shot 54.2 percent from the floor despite making only 4 of 21 3-point attempts. The Hogs were also unselfish, dishing out 26 assists.
Hawaii got 21 points from Dre Bullock and 15 points from Isaac Johnson.
An APSE national award-winning writer and editor, David Wasson has almost four decades of experience in the print journalism business in Florida and Alabama. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and several national magazines and websites. His Twitter handle: @JustDWasson.
