Largely bottled up by Arkansas’ top-10 defense in the first half Wednesday night, Alabama’s pair of NBA-bound freshmen stole the show in the second half.

Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney combined for 26 of the Tide’s first 41 second-half points in an 84-69 win over the Razorbacks, coming up big in key moments to score Alabama’s most consequential SEC win this season.

The No. 4-ranked Tide withstood a 9-0 run by No. 15-ranked Arkansas in the first half and another 7-0 run by the Hogs in the second half, ending the Hogs’ late charge by a string of three pointers. With Arkansas having cut Alabama’s lead to two points and less than five minutes remaining, Clowney hit a triple and Miller followed with two more to re-build an 11-point lead and silence the Bud Walton Arena crowd.

Alabama improved to 14-2 with the win and 4-0 in the SEC, matching its 2020-21 start as its best in SEC play since the 1986-87 season.

After beating No. 21-ranked Mississippi State on the road and blowing out two unranked opponents, Ole Miss and Kentucky, in Coleman Coliseum, the Tide’s midweek trip to Fayetteville marked its largest challenge in conference play so far this season.

Arkansas did not allow Miller to attempt a shot in the first half while Clowney had only three points before halftime while limited by three fouls. But Clowney made his presence felt with nine points in a span of less than four minutes early in the second half to finish with 15 points, and Miller added 14 after his scoreless first half.

The win was Alabama’s third over an Associated Press-ranked opponent on the road this season, coming after victories at No. 1-ranked Houston and in Starkville. Alabama was 1-8 against top-25 opponents in Oats’ first three seasons. The win in Fayetteville was Alabama’s first since 2012, snapping a five-game losing streak in the venue.

Despite Miller and Clowney’s combined three points in the first half, Alabama led for an early 12-minute stretch by as many as seven points. Arkansas’ run tied the score at halftime, 33-33, before Alabama opened a 12-point lead midway through the second half, 62-50.

Alabama then went cold and Arkansas narrowed the score to 65-63 with 4:45 remaining. Nate Oats called a timeout and the Tide’s next three shots were the made three-pointers by Clowney and Miller. Alabama scored 19 of the game’s final 25 points after Oats’ timeout, with Arkansas not threatening once the lead returned to double digits.

With Miller stifled, guard Mark Sears scored a team-high 12 points in the first half for Alabama and added 10 more in the second half, including 2-of-3 three-point shooting. He finished with a team-high 26 points, his most since joining Alabama from Ohio University last offseason.

Arkansas (12-4) fell to 1-3 in the SEC with the loss after being picked to finish second in the preseason media poll. The two teams will meet again Feb. 25 in Tuscaloosa, likely after the return from injury of Arkansas freshman Nick Smith, the top-ranked high school recruit in 2022.

Alabama hosts unranked LSU on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. The Tigers (12-4) have also started 1-3 in conference play after significant roster turnover and a coaching change, from Will Wade to Matt McMahon, earlier this year.

This story will be updated.

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.