Columbia, Mo. ? Arkansas was supposed to be Missouri’s toughest opponent this season. But the Tigers’ 86-64 win over the Razorbacks on Thursday looked as easy as their previous seven.

Missouri (8-0) forced 24 Arkansas turnovers, 17 coming from steals, and held the Razorbacks to 41.8 percent shooting in what coach Mike Anderson said was easily Missouri’s most complete game.

“Any guy that went on the floor, I thought they played with energy and they played unselfish and they played to win,” Anderson said.

Arkansas (5-1) entered the game with 33 votes in the latest AP Top 25 poll, but coach Stan Heath said his Razorbacks looked nothing like the team that started the season with five straight wins to capture the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., last weekend.

“We got outworked, we got out-hustled,” Heath said. “I think our team left Orlando and felt like we’ve arrived. We certainly ran into an ambush tonight.”

Missouri’s 18-5 run midway through the first half and a 30-13 run to close out the half propelled the Tigers to their first win over the Razorbacks since 1992 – a string of eight games.

Most of that offense went through Stefhon Hannah. Three days after scoring 12 points and tying a Missouri record with 13 assists against Coppin State, the junior college transfer scored a career-high 21 points, had six steals and dished out six assists.

“He’s directing the ship and we’re following him,” said Keon Lawrence, who came off the bench to score 14 points, 10 of those in the first half as the Tigers were pulling away.

Heath said Missouri’s defense wasn’t the toughest his team has faced this season – an honor he said goes to Southern Illinois – but Missouri’s definitely created more problems.

Missouri's Leo Lyons, center, tries to keep a loose ball away from Arkansas' Charles Thomas, left, and Darian Townes. The Tigers won, 86-64, on Thursday night in Columbia, Mo.

The two teams traded the lead six times in the first nine minutes before Arkansas turnovers and Missouri 3-pointers swung the momentum the Tiger’s way.

Charles Thomas and Patrick Beverly led Arkansas with 15 points apiece, but thanks to Missouri’s pressure defense, they turned the ball over a combined seven times.

“We want to play up-tempo, we want to play fast, but we don’t want to play so fast that we lose control of what we need to be doing out there on the court,” Heath said.

And for every problem Arkansas had, Missouri seemed to answer with points. The Tigers didn’t have their best shooting day of the season, going 48.7 percent from the floor, but they scored 21 points off turnovers and made 12-of-21 three-point attempts.

Missouri’s long-range shooting again was led by Matt Lawrence. The sophomore from St. Louis, who averaged 1.5 points last year, came in leading Missouri in scoring with 14 points a game. Thursday, he scored 19 points off 5-for-6 shooting, all coming from three-point range. He also was a perfect 4-for-4 from the three-point line.

Anderson said Hannah’s emergence as Missouri’s leader has been impressive, but he has been aided by the shooting ability of Matt Lawrence, Marshall Brown slashing to the basket and the spark Keon Lawrence provides coming off the bench.

“It makes a difference when you can get some assists and just throw it over there to Matt Lawrence,” Anderson said. “It makes it easier.”

Anderson spent the week leading up to this game downplaying the emotional aspect of facing the school where he spent 17 years coaching as an assistant under Nolan Richardson, helping the Razorbacks win the national championship in 1994 and reach the title game the following season.

After Thursday’s win, he still spoke highly of his former team.

“This is a great win. Arkansas is a great program,” he said. “I take pride in this.”