FAYETTEVILLE — It wasn't as close as other SEC teams' games against mid-major opponents on Friday, but Arkansas certainly had a brief scare against Central Arkansas on Friday the 13th.

The Razorbacks beat UCA 79-66 in a game they led by 16 at halftime, though the Bears didn't go away early in the second half and chopped the lead to single digits. With 5:13 to go, Arkansas led 66-60.

After trading baskets, Jeremiah Wilkinson hit arguably the biggest shot of the night, nailing a three that put Arkansas up by nine with 4:07 to play. A string of stops sealed the victory, which improves the Razorbacks to 3-1 ahead of a major showdown in Madison Square Garden against Indiana (4-0) on Tuesday.

"Some good came from the game," Arkansas head coach John Calipari said. "But I need to know [how] when you shoot 51% from the 2, 39 percent from the three, you have 19 assists and 11 turnovers, and it's a ball game. I'm going to say it again: I have to teach these guys how to win."

Arkansas led 53-35 with 15:49 to go and 66-51 with 8:03 to play, but UCA kept making just enough plays to hang around. The fact that Arkansas couldn't put their foot on UCA's neck until the final two minutes was a symptom of the Hogs not playing winning basketball, according to Calipari.

"Today I told them, I am not pushing," Calipari said. "I am dragging you. That's how it is. Deal with it. I am dragging you. Do we have talent? Yes, but this is a game of five guys playing together, and all of them knowing how to win and playing to win, not playing to get their points, not playing to make a hero's play. I'm making easy plays, and we're going to do it back to back until they call a timeout. We're not near there. We're not even halfway home."

Billy Richmond led Arkansas in scoring with 21 points on 8-12 shooting, including a 3-3 mark from beyond the arc. Wilkinson poured in 14, with Jordan Smith Jr. scoring 12 points and Miikka Muurinen had 11.

Against the Hoosiers in a neutral site contest, the Razorbacks will have to play much better than they did in their two home games this week against mid-major opponents if they're to come away with a win.

"Everybody else has tough schedules and tough turnaround," Calipari said. "I told some guys, there's some guys on my team, anytime they get touched, where do they end up? On the floor. I said, get knee braces and get elbow pads because you're going to play a game where you're going to be on the floor, because you're going to get touched a lot, you're going to get hit a lot."

In its first matchup against a fellow power conference opponent, No. 6 Virginia manhandled Arkansas in Washington, D.C., beating the Razorbacks 91-72 on Nov. 8.