FAYETTEVILLE -- For the second consecutive game, the Arkansas men's basketball team got out to a fast start and never let its opponent back into the contest.
There may not be a lot to learn from the Razorbacks' 95-67 win over North Carolina A&T, but there have been blips against other teams previously in the season.
Arkansas trailed at halftime against Troy and Texas-San Antonio -- both teams rated much higher than A&T's No. 315 by KenPom -- and the Razorbacks let teams like Little Rock, Lipscomb and Pacific hang around before pulling away late.
But against the Aggies on Saturday and Central Arkansas a week prior, Arkansas never wavered and earned consecutive wire-to-wire victories.
"We had a couple let downs, but it's hard being up 25 or 30 and playing, just so you know," Arkansas coach John Calipari said. "Not only has this been a grind for these kids to this point, but I took this -- we started two-a-days [earlier in the week], and so I was going after them."
Arkansas is in the midst of its best stretch of the season, beginning with its comeback win over Michigan on Dec. 10.
"There was some good stuff today," Calipari said. "Like I told them, you want to win the game, go for Christmas, breathe for the first time and then come back here absolutely jacked and juiced. Let's go, and let's get ready for the grind that's ahead of us."
The Aggies are the lowest-rated team the Razorbacks will play against for the remainder of the season, with Oakland remaining before beginning the gauntlet of SEC play. After the Golden Grizzlies come to Bud Walton Arena on Dec. 30, the lowest-rated team Arkansas will face is South Carolina, which is No. 68 on KenPom.
"We've got a hard game the 30th," Calipari said, "and then we start the truly grind of what this league is going to be and start shortly thereafter."
The only sub-100 KenPom loss an SEC team has taken this season was South Carolina's opener against North Florida. No SEC team has more than three losses.
Per KenPom's metrics, the SEC is the nation's best league by a full 3.3 points over the Big Ten in second place. It's projected to get double-digit NCAA Tournament bids, potentially taking the all-time record that the Big East set with 11 in 2011.
"Look, no one in the league can predict anything. So whatever it is, every team is going to have hard games," Calipari said. "So it's like I said, everybody's looking for Ws. I just hope we're not the W."
In essence, the Razorbacks cannot afford to let teams of the level of North Carolina A&T hang around or make games interesting at this stage of the season. They have made sure the previous two games were never close past the first media timeout.
Arkansas led UCA 22-7 at the first stop in play last week. The Razorbacks led North Carolina A&T 12-5 on Saturday.
Seven of eight rotation players reached double figures in scoring. Boogie Fland (12 points, 11 assists) and Jonas Aidoo (17 points, 11 rebounds) each had double-doubles.
The defensive intensity never wavered, with Aidoo, Adou Thiero and Trevon Brazile contesting everything at the rim.
"It's really good, especially for a game like that knowing we're about to go on a break. These [are] like the hardest games, going into a break, so I'm just glad everybody was locked in," Aidoo said. "Everybody showcased what they can do, and just moving forward, we have Oakland on the 30th, just got to get back ready to work."
Yes, it was against North Carolina A&T. But it was the kind of performance a team like Arkansas needs to show against a team like North Carolina A&T.