Malique Ewin and the quiet contradiction inside Arkansas’ 97-78 win: a flurry start, then a control game
In a game that began with an 11-0 blast, malique ewin ended up embodying a different truth about Arkansas’ NCAA Tournament opener: the Razorbacks didn’t just sprint past Hawai’i—they managed the game, possession by possession, to a 97-78 win Thursday afternoon (ET) in Portland’s Moda Center.
How did an 11-0 opening run turn into a 40-minute statement?
Arkansas opened the NCAA Tournament “in a flurry, ” burying Hawai’i immediately with an 11-0 run to start the game before cruising to a 97-78 victory. The early minutes were decisive: Hawai’i missed its first seven attempts from the floor before making its first basket of the day, and Arkansas had already created separation.
The Razorbacks sprinted to an 11-point lead in the first four minutes, then pushed the margin to 19 points with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half. Hawai’i did manage to cut it to nine, but Arkansas responded with an 8-0 finish to the half capped by dunks from Billy Richmond III, malique ewin, and Trevon Brazile.
The second half removed any remaining suspense. Arkansas’ lead never fell below 11 points after halftime, and the Razorbacks rolled into the second round. The contradiction was clear in the flow: a game that looked like it might be a track meet early instead became a controlled win—built on ball movement, multiple scoring options, and steady rebounding.
What did Malique Ewin’s line reveal that the opening flurry didn’t?
In the box score, Arkansas had star power across the board: Darius Acuff Jr. finished with 24 points and seven rebounds, while fellow freshman Meleek Thomas added 21 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Together, Acuff and Thomas became the first freshman duo with at least 20 points and five assists in an NCAA Tournament game.
But Arkansas’ interior production and connective playmaking also surfaced as a defining factor. Ewin delivered a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, and added a career-best six assists. In a tournament setting where one-dimensional production can be easier to scheme against, the combination of scoring, rebounding, and distributing from the frontcourt widened Arkansas’ options within the same possession.
Arkansas also placed multiple players in double figures beyond Acuff and Thomas: Brazile had 19 points, and Richmond scored 10. The cumulative effect was that Hawai’i had to deal with pressure from more than one point of attack, and Arkansas maintained its advantage without needing a single scorer to carry every stretch.
Which record-book milestones helped define Arkansas’ identity in this opener?
Several individual and team benchmarks reinforced the shape of Arkansas’ win.
Acuff continued to climb the school record book. He broke Kareem Reid’s single-season and freshman school record for assists in a season, reaching 223. He also moved into second place on the school’s single-season points list with 781, sitting five points behind all-time leading scorer Todd Day’s 786 from the 1990-91 season.
Brazile crossed a major career mark as well, cracking the 1, 000-point barrier as a Razorback with 1, 013. The same game recap noted Brazile has 1, 164 career points when including one year at Missouri.
At the team level, Arkansas recorded 26 assists—its most this season since it posted 27 in a win over South Carolina. The Razorbacks improved to 12-0 this season and to 17-0 under Coach Calipari when recording 20 assists as a team. Hawai’i entered the game allowing opponents only 9. 3 assists per game, the best figure in the NCAA, making Arkansas’ ball movement not just productive but also directly oppositional to Hawai’i’s defensive profile.
The result sets up a second-round matchup against 12-seed High Point, which upset 5-seed Wisconsin 83-82 earlier Thursday (ET). Game time for Saturday’s meeting with the Panthers was still to be determined later Thursday night (ET).
