#20 Arkansas Sinks #15 Commodores

January 20, 2026

FAYETTEVILLE – #20 Arkansas was dominant from the start as six Razorbacks scored in double figures in a 93-68 victory over #15/14 Vanderbilt Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena.

Arkansas dished out 25 assists, with just seven turnovers, and out-rebounded the Commodores, 39-27. Trevon Brazile played a key role in those numbers as he recorded his fourth double-double of the season (14th for his career) with 10 points and a season-high 14 rebounds while adding five assists, four steals and two blocked shots.

Freshmen Darius Acuff Jr. and Meleek Thomas each had five assists while Acuff added 17 points and Thomas 13. Malique Ewin and Karter Knox each scored 16 points.

But perhaps the best under-the-radar performance came from D.J. Wagner, who came off the bench for the first time as a Razorback in a move head coach John Calipari said was meant to “get D.J. going.” Wahner responded with 11 points and three assists with zero turnovers.

Vanderbilt, which entered the game 10th in the NCAA in scoring at 911.4 ppg, was held to 68 points. Also, VU was 24th in the NCAA in field goal percentage at 49.6%, but was held to 37.9%. Tyler Nickel was the only Commodore to score in double figures with 17 points. However, all 17 were in the first half, and he was 0-of-3 from the field in the second half.

Arkansas returns to action on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena to host the LSU Tigers. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm and the game will be televised on SEC Network.

FIRST HALF: ARK: 46 – VAN: 35

Arkansas got off to a hot start, leading 13-2 out of the gate and led by as many as 20 (34-14) with 7:04 left in the period.
Vandy’s Tyler Nickel started to heat up and finished with 17 of his team’s 35 points, going 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
Arkansas shot 54.5% from the field overall and 53.8% from 3-point range.
Arkansas out-rebounded Vandy, 23-13. Trevon Brazile led the way with seven rebounds.
Meleek Thomas and Karter Knox led Arkansas with 10 points.
All eight Razorbacks that played in the first half scored.

SECOND HALF: ARK: 47 – VAN: 33

Nick Pringle kept Arkansas rolling to start the second half with an alley-oop dunk from Thomas. That put the Hogs up 13. Vanderbilt got as close as 11 (50-39) with 17:31 left, but that was as close as it would get.
Malique Ewin, who had four dunks, led Arkansas with 11 points in the second half.
Arkansas had 14 assists on 19 made baskets in the second half with just three turnovers.
All five of Acuff’s assists came in the second half.
Arkansas shot a blistering 61.3% in the second half while holding Vandy to 36.0%.
Brazile had seven rebounds in the second half as well, with three of his four steals coming in the period.

NOTES:

For the first time this year, Arkansas’ starting lineup was Darius Acuff Jr., Meleek Thomas, Karter Knox, Trevon Brazile and Nick Pringle. It was the third career start for Thomas.
Nick Pringle made the game’s first basket with a layup at 18:29.
Arkansas’s first subs were Billy Richmond III, Malique Ewin and D.J. Wagner.
The 11-point halftime lead was the second-largest margin at the break for Arkansas versus an AP top 25 team. The record is 18 set earlier this season versus Louisville.
The 25-point win was the fourth-largest margin of victory versus an AP top 25 opponent.
The Arkansas-Vanderbilt game was the eighth time the Razorbacks and their opponent were ranked. That is the most during a regular season for Arkansas with the previous best being five times in 2022-23, 1994-95, 1911-92 and 1990-91. The overall most was the 1994-95 season when Arkansas and its opponent were ranked 11 times (including SEC and NCAA tournaments).
With the win tonight, Arkansas earned its fourth win in top 25 matchups this season. That ties the mark set in 1994-95 and 1991-92 while being the first time to get four before the month of February.
This was the 48th meeting between Arkansas and Vanderbilt. The Razorbacks own a 32-15 advantage in the series, including a 31-14 margin in SEC meetings.
In games played in Fayetteville, Arkansas leads 17-5.
Arkansas has won 10 of the last 13 games. However, Vandy did win three straight recently, including two games Bud Walton Arena.
For the first time as a Razorback, D.J. Wagner came off the bench. He started his first 54 games as a Razorback which is the fourth-best streak for games played that were all starts. Lee Mayberry (104 games spanning his freshman, sophomore and first 37 games as a junior), Scotty Thurman (all 102 games of his three-year career) and Bobby Portis (all 70 games of his two-year career). As a side note, Lee Mayberry would have started all 139 games of his four-year career, but Mayberry let Ernie Murry start on Senior Day in the 1990-91 season. (HogStats)
Arkansas had 13 dunks, including four from Ewin, three from Pringle, two from Knox, two from Brazile, one from Acuff and one from Wagner.

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