Arkansas has a men's diving team again. It's disguised as the basketball team.

Razorbacks Coach John Pelphrey proudly pointed out Arkansas had a record number of 21 dives - it's not an official stat in the box score - in beating North Texas 86-75 Saturday before 15,687 fans at Alltel Arena in North Little Rock.

"That's so awesome," Pelphrey said. "Those guys are throwing their heart and soul out there."

There were two scrambles when all five Razorbacks hit the floor trying to get the ball.

"We probably didn't win on talent or on how well we played," Pelphrey said. "I thought we won on toughness and effort."

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Pelphrey said the Razorbacks, who lost seven players from last season who started at least seven games, have a toughness that was lacking from last year's 23-12 squad that beat Indiana for Arkansas' first NCAA Tournament victory in nine years.

"There's one thing this team has over the team I coached last year: I think this team is tougher," Pelphrey said. "Certainly, we're not as physically talented. We don't have the unbelievable depth in the front court.

"But I do think these guys are tougher."

Pelphrey said he believes the increased toughness "in large part" starts with junior forward Michael Washington and freshman point guard Courtney Fortson and "trickles down to everybody else."

Washington led the Razorbacks (11-1) with a career-high 34 points Saturday, hitting 12 of 15 shots from the field and 10 of 12 from the free-throw line. He also had 11 rebounds.

Fortson had 12 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds in 37 minutes.

"We take pride in diving on the floor," Fortson said. "It's just giving back to the fans who are cheering for us."

North Texas (8-6) was ahead 42-40 at halftime and took a 53-50 lead with 16:05 left on a threepoint basket by junior guard Dominique Johnson, who had a team-high 15 points.

It appeared Arkansas was in jeopardy of suffering a third consecutive loss at Alltel Arena, but junior guard Stefan Welsh said that wasn't weighing on the Razorbacks.

"This team is built off our heart," said Welsh, who had 19 points. "We never for one second thought we were going to lose this game."

Arkansas responded by outscoring the Mean Green 21-2 over a five-minute span, including seven points by freshman guard Rotnei Clarke and six by Washington, to take a 71-55 lead with 10:33 left.

North Texas didn't pull closer than nine points the rest of the game.

"There's a whole new mindset on this team," Welsh said. "We hate losing.

"The one loss that we did have at Missouri State, it's stuck with us. We hate that feeling, and we're riding high on confidence right now .... and it's very, very tough to beat us."

Arkansas has won nine consecutive games since losing 62-57 at Missouri State on Nov. 22.

"They are a Top-25 caliber team, and they're able to do those sorts of things," North Texas Coach Johnny Jones said of the Razorbacks. "They have guys who can shoot the ball. They can defend and force turnovers, so they're a very capable team."

North Texas was 1 of 9 from the field with one of its 18 turnovers during the Razorbacks' decisive 21-2 run that began with Clarke's three-pointer.

"Certainly, when you can get stops, it makes it easier to make a few baskets," Pelphrey said.

North Texas went on a run of its own, 15-0, to go from trailing 27-20 to leading 35-27 in the first half.

"In basketball, there's going to be a series of runs," Jones said. "We're going to have our share, and the opponent is going to have their share.

"It's important to be able to manage those and, unfortunately, when they went on their big run, it was a little bit tougher for us to manage that."

North Texas shot 55.6 percent from the field (15 of 27) in the first half and 33.3 percent (11 of 33 in the second half.

Welsh said the Razorbacks did a good job of making the Mean Green have to drive the ball in the second half after they hit 7 of 12 three-points in the first half, and that North Texas also wore down.

"I think our hard pressure throughout the game made their legs heavy," Welsh said. "They started missing wide-open shots they were hitting in the first half."

The Razorbacks shot 53.3 percent from the field in the second half (16 of 30) and kept hitting the Alltel Arena floor hustling after the ball and drawing loud cheers from the fans.

"I told these guys at the beginning of the year, when you play at Arkansas, it's not a place where you have to wake the crowd up or encourage them to get up and scream for you," Pelphrey said. "All you've got to do is have a great attitude and show that you care about your teammate ... and then just play as hard as you possibly can.

"And if you do those things, you don't have to say a word. They'll cheer for you."