FAYETTEVILLE — Karter Knox made up for lost time after a toe sprain kept him out of the University of Arkansas men’s basketball team’s season opener Nov. 3.

The sophomore scored 11 of No. 21 Arkansas’ first 20 points and ended with 19 points during a 93-56 win against the University of Central Arkansas on Tuesday night at Walton Arena. A three-point miss with 35 seconds left denied Knox a career-high 22 points. He shot 5 for 8 from the field and 4 for 6 on three-point attempts.

“I’ve been in the gym with the coaching staff,” Knox said. “Shooting every day, every night after practice and the work is paying off.”

Freshman Darius Acuff Jr. led the Razorbacks with 21 points, Knox’s career-high 10 rebounds earned him a first career collegiate double-double and freshman Meleek Thomas had a game-high six assists. Arkansas shot 13 for 34 (38.2%) from three and 31 for 63 (49.2%) from the field.

Starting 6-10 forward Trevon Brazile did not play with back spasms, creating a need for the Razorbacks to crash the glass.

“It felt great getting that double-double, man,” Knox said. “Coaches told me before the game, ‘Just be a beast on the boards.’ That’s what I delivered. So I just went in there, went after every rebound. My mindset was, that ball is going to be mine.”

Knox’s 14 points at halftime, when he hit 4 hit 4 on three-pointers with seven rebounds, already neared a double-double. The sophomore got there in his first start of this season with a 10th rebound with 14:58 left in the game. Knox grabbed a third offensive board, completed a three-point play and talked at a courtside camera.

“That’s who he should be,” Arkansas Coach John Calipari said. “Yes, he made shots, but he rebounded the ball for us. … I still think he’s pressing too much. Just don’t worry about it. Just play basketball. It’s not eighth grade, so you’re not being judged by points. You’re being judged by ‘Can you play basketball? Do you have a feel for this? Are you tough?’ Will you go rebound?’ “

Knox missed his lone shot attempt across 18 minutes off the bench in Saturday’s 69-66 loss at No. 17 Michigan State.

“I wasn’t going to play how I played at Michigan State,” Knox said. “My goal was really trying to get 20 and 20. I was trying to get after every board. The Michigan State loss, like, that’s a game that we should have won. If I played like I did today, we would have won that game.”

Calipari said he would’ve started Knox over a healthy Brazile to jumpstart the sophomore’s season. Brazile’s health for Friday’s home game at 7 p.m. against Samford at Walton Arena remains unclear.

“Nothing changes,” Knox said. “I’ve run the 4 at times. So it’s always good to be versatile.”

Arkansas opened with a much more comfortable 22-7 lead Tuesday than in East Lansing, Mich., but Central Arkansas closed the gap to 43-34 at halftime thanks to a four-point play by guard Ty Robinson with 42 seconds left before the break.

The Bears lingered despite shooting 4 for 23 from three-point range at the time of Robinson’s basket and 12 for 38 from the field. Central Arkansas finished 4 for 41 (9.8%) on three-point attempts and 19 for 67 (28.4%) total. Truman Byrne grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

Guard Camren Hunter led the Bears with 16 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Robinson added 15 points on his heels, though the UCA starting backcourt of Hunter, Robinson and Rashad Bolden combined to shoot 2 for 21 on three-pointers.

“We’re getting better at saying, ‘We’re guarding threes,’ ” Calipari said. “Now we wanted to hold them to 20 threes attempted. They got 40. We wanted to hold them to under six or seven in 20 attempts. They made six, five, whatever, in 40. … I’m not trying to get us to play perfect, but the biggest thing is just play the game and make easy plays right now.”

Arkansas (2-1) didn’t start to pull away until the third of three consecutive three-pointers by Acuff with 15:57 left. The barrage cushioned a 56-39 lead for the Razorbacks, which extended it to as many as 38 points with 1:04 remaining.

The Bears (1-2) were held to 22 second-half points.

“I thought we played hard,” UCA Coach John Shulman said. “I thought we were very solid defensively. I thought we did as good as of job we can do at this moment on the glass, especially early.

“I think the special ones in athletics fight human nature. In human nature when you go 4 for 41 from the three-point line, you just get frustrated and you get down. ‘Oh, gosh. Woe is me.’ Well, I’m not a woe-is-me type guy. When you are 4 for 41, you need to play harder than you’ve every played before. But human nature takes over and you discouraged.”

Matt Byrne is the Bob Holt Razorback Reporter, named in honor of the longtime reporter who covered University of Arkansas sports. This position is funded by the ADG Community Journalism Project.