The only thing that has kept Rotnei Clarke cool these last few days was a bucket of ice.

Literally.

Rotnei Clarke goes up for his 13th, record-breaking 3-pointer against Alcorn State on Friday night. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/MICHAEL WOODS)

Clarke, who had foot problems when he arrived on campus as a freshman, buried his feet in a bucket of ice after practice Wednesday. Arkansas Coach John Pelphrey saw Clarke cooling his feet and automatically thought the sophomore, as he has done his entire life as a basketball player, had just finished taking a few hundred extra shots in Bud Walton Arena and was treating his aches and pains.

“Come to find out, he was back here two hours later to throw up a whole other series of shots,” Pelphrey said. “Yeah, that’s the type of guy you want to coach. It means something to him and he’s willing to work for it.”

Clarke’s record-breaking night of 13 three-pointers and 51 points in Arkansas’ 130-68 win Friday was the result of extra work after practice at Bud Walton Arena and at the sports complex his father, Conley, runs in Springdale.

Apparently the sophomore hit 275 of 300 treys and then followed that up with 281 of 300 the following night after practice.

“My dad is all about the numbers,” Clarke chuckled. “He’s helped me up until this point. I felt like I was really shooting it well the last couple of nights.”

That’s the understatement of the year.

Pelphrey, who played at Kentucky and coached great shooters like Matt Bonner at Florida, said he had never seen a shooting night like Clarke’s 15-of-21 shooting performance against Alcorn State.

“He may take it to a whole other level,” Pelphrey said.

What about Farmer?
And what about Jemal Farmer in his debut as a Razorback? The forward hit 9 of 16 shots and 9 of 10 free throws to record a double-double of 28 points and 12 rebounds.

Not bad.

“That’s an unbelievable night,” Pelphrey said. “Too bad your teammate had 51 (points).”

Foul trouble
Forward Michael Washington picked up two quick fouls just 46 seconds into the game, and only played 5 minutes in the first half. With Arkansas’ depth issues because of suspensions and injuries, only six scholarship players dressed out for Arkansas. Coupled with that, Washington’s absence could have proved huge but thanks to Clarke and Farmer, the Hogs did just fine.

Washington played 12 minutes in the second half and managed to bump his stats up to 14 points and 5 rebounds with 4 blocks.

Block party
Speaking of blocks, the Hogs had 10 against the Braves. Marshawn Powell led the way with 5 blocks.

Getting the point
Pelphrey was admittedly worried about giving the point guard duties to freshman Julysses Nobles with guard Courtney Fortson out due to suspension.

In his debut, Nobles did admirably with 9 assists and 8 points. The best stat, though, might be the five steals he accumulated.

“Everybody looked like an all-star tonight,” Alcorn State coach Larry Smith said. “It’s hard to pin-point one guy.

“We showed not a whole lot of resistance and they did what they wanted to do. The outcome reflects that.”

Up next for Arkansas is a Tuesday trip to St. Louis to play Louisville at the Scottrade Center in the Hall of Fame Showcase. Plenty of storylines there with Pelphrey coaching against his mentor, Rick Pitino.

“Coach (Pitino) isn’t going to let him shoot,” Pelphrey told FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman late Friday night. “He’ll pick him up as soon as he lands in St. Louis.”

— Brandon Marcello