Arkansas 61, Mississippi State 41: Bobby Portis scored 19 points with 11 rebounds and the host Razorbacks smothered the Bulldogs in the first half.

Arkansas (18-5, 7-3 SEC) held Mississippi State (11-12, 4-6) to 2-of-21 shooting in the opening half, building a 30-9 lead at intermission. Portis, the conference’s leader scorer at 17.7 points entering the contest, shot 8-of-14 from the field on Saturday in recording his 10th double-double this season.

Anthlon Bell hit four 3-pointers en route to 12 points for the Razorbacks, who won for the fifth time in six games despite shooting 37.5 percent from the field. Gavin Ware scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half to lead the Bulldogs, who missed their final 16 shots of the first half in being outscored 23-2.

Ware’s jumper with a little more than five minutes into the game tied the score at 7-7, but Bell’s 3-pointer two minutes later started a 20-0 spurt. Portis scored seven points during the run while back-to-back baskets from Alandise Harris put the Razorbacks’ advantage at 27-7 with 2 ½ minutes left before halftime.

I.J. Ready made two free throws with 1:18 to play in the period to end the scoreless drought and Ware scored twice in the opening minute of the second half to cut the Arkansas lead to 30-13. Portis responded with the Razorbacks’ next six points and Bell’s 3-pointer with just over eight minutes to play pushed the cushion to 51-27.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Arkansas forced 14 of its 24 turnovers in the first half overall and held Mississippi State to 31.1 percent shooting from the field, including 0-of-10 from 3-point range. … Ready finished 2-of-2 from the free-throw line and has not missed from the stripe in 20 attempts in SEC games this season. … Arkansas has won three in a row and four of the past five against Mississippi State; the Bulldogs host the Razorbacks on Feb. 21.