Arkansas beats No. 7 Duke in first game after dropping from polls

Khalif Battle scored 21 points off the bench and Arkansas put together a much-needed 80-75 victory against No. 7 Duke on Wednesday night at Fayetteville, Ark.

Trevon Brazile, who made four 3-point baskets, posted 19 points and 11 rebounds for Arkansas (5-3). The Razorbacks bounced back after losing their final two games -- to Memphis and North Carolina -- in the Battle 4 Atlantis last week in the Bahamas. The losses bumped Arkansas from the Top 25.

Battle poured in 13 points during a four-minute span of the second half when the Razorbacks pulled away. Brazile's 3-pointer stretched the gap to 73-61 with 2:18 to play.

Kyle Filipowski supplied 26 points and 10 rebounds, Jeremy Roach had 22 points, and Jared McCain grabbed 10 rebounds for Duke (5-2), which was in its first true road game of the season.

The Blue Devils shot 6-for-22 on 3-pointers as their four-game winning streak ended.

Duke got within 75-71 with 47 seconds left and with 78-75 at the 18-second mark. Davonte Davis and Battle then each made a free throw for Arkansas to put the game away.

Arkansas did all this without guard Tramon Mark, who suffered a back injury late in Friday's loss after scoring 34 points. He didn't play Wednesday.

The Razorbacks used an 11-2 run to create a 55-45 lead. Battle had seven of the points during that stretch.

The margin grew to 60-47 shortly after the midway mark of the second half as Duke went cold while Arkansas continued to hit its shots.

Arkansas led 33-32 at halftime, slowed at times by Duke's zone defense that may have been a byproduct of the Blue Devils' foul trouble. The Razorbacks made 40 percent of their shots from the floor in the first half while the Blue Devils shot 34.5 percent from the field.

The largest lead of the half was three points, which both teams achieved.

Filipowski, held to three points before halftime, picked up two fouls five minutes into the game. Less than five minutes later, reserve Ryan Young joined him with two fouls and soon after he had his third. That resulted in Christian Reeves on the court for his first action since Nov. 10.

Arkansas was charged with eight first-half fouls, but only one picked up by a starter. Duke had nine, five by starters.