NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Roger Powell scored 19 points and Dee Brown and Deron Williams added 13 each Saturday, helping No. 5 Illinois overcome a sluggish offense and poor free throw shooting to defeat Arkansas 72-60.

The Illini (6-0) rarely looked like the team that beat top-ranked Wake Forest by 18 Wednesday night. Illinois was playing its first game in front of a hostile crowd and, while never rattled, it committed more than twice the number of turnovers as it did against the Demon Deacons.

Arkansas (5-1) was a step behind throughout the first half, as the Illini built a nine-point lead. Illinois patiently worked the ball around the perimeter and took advantage when the Razorbacks missed an assignment or overreached in a passing lane.

The Razorbacks played tighter in the second half, but suffered from poor shooting after closing the gap to 57-53 with 7:47 left.

Powell converted a three-point play a half-minute later after working the ball inside against Charles Thomas. The Razorbacks managed only Ronnie Brewer’s dunk and Steven Hill’s free throw over the next six minutes, as Illinois extended its lead to 10.

Through the game’s first 30 minutes, Illinois made only seven of 16 free throw attempts, including only one of its six second-half tries. As Arkansas went cold and turned to fouling to stop the Illini, Illinois made 14 of its final 19 tries.

Saturday’s trip was Illinois’ first outside the Midwest. The Illini had won four games at home and another in Indianapolis, a neutral site, against Gonzaga.

While Arkansas wasn’t playing at home, either – it schedules a game away from its Fayetteville campus to appease fans outside the Ozarks – the crowd was far from neutral and stayed loud until the game became a dull parade of free throws.

The final basket of the game was Brewer’s dunk with 7:07 left, which made it 60-55. The last 17 points were scored from the free throw line.

Illinois, which put together a number of scoring streaks against Wake Forest on Wednesday as it built a 32-point lead, had only a 9-2 spurt in the first half to go up 26-18. The lead reached 40-28 before the Razorbacks narrowed it to 40-31 and Hill blocked Nick Smith’s shot in the closing seconds of the first half.

AP-ES-12-04-04 1703EST