FAYETTEVILLE — Three-point shots weren’t falling for the University of Arkansas men’s basketball team Wednesday night at Walton Arena.

But when the Razorbacks desperately needed a three-pointer, Zvonimir Ivisic delivered.

Arkansas was 3 of 18 on three-pointers — an icy 16.7% — when Ivisic hit one from beyond the arc to start a closing surge that carried the No. 16 Razorbacks to a 76-60 victory over Lipscomb.

Freshman guard Boogie Fland’s only three-point basket gave Arkansas its largest lead at 15 points, 60-45, with 11:27 left.

Razorbacks Coach John Calipari made clanging sounds and used his right arm in a spinning motion during his postgame news conference to demonstrate his view of how long it took Fland’s three-pointer to rattle around the rim before finally going through the net.

“That was the one you made and you kept shooting?” Calipari said as if he was addressing Fland rather than the media.

The Razorbacks missed their next four three-point attempts — one each by Adou Thiero and Johnell Davis and two by Fland that dropped him to 1 of 8 — as Lipscomb went on an 11-0 run and pulled within 60-56 on Logan Suber’s jump shot with 7:47 left.

After the teams exchanged missed shots, Arkansas guard D.J. Wagner drove to the basket, then passed to Ivisic.

The pass was high — even for the 7-2 Ivisic — but the sophomore from Croatia managed to keep the ball in front of him after bobbling it.

Ivisic regained control of the ball, realized he was still open and fired up a three.

“I remember I was alone,” Ivisic said. “If I’m alone, then I’m going to take that shot every time.”

The Razorbacks’ final three-point attempt of the game lifted them to a 63-56 lead with 6:53 left and started a 16-4 run that put away the Bisons, who start four seniors and are favored to win the Atlantic Sun Conference title.

“When you play that game against teams like this you’ve got to figure out what hill you’re going to die on and we were going to make them shoot threes,” Lipscomb Coach Lennie Acuff said. “If they make threes you have no chance.”

Until the final minutes, it was a strategy that kept the Bisons within striking distance.

Lipscomb won the three-point shooting contest, hitting 9 of 27, but the Razorbacks shot 68.2% (30 of 44) on two-point attempts and finished with a 54-22 scoring edge on points in the paint.

But shooting better than 4 of 19 on three-pointers would have kept the Razorbacks comfortably ahead in the second half.

“How about this thought — make a three,” Calipari said. “How about that thought.

“You make 7 or 8, you get 3 or 4 more, I want you to think of the score.”

If the Razorbacks had finished 7 of 19 on three-pointers (36.8%) they would have scored 79 points.

“I’m glad we didn’t shoot more, because we’d have missed more,” Calipari said. “But the good news is, we threw the ball inside and we did some good stuff. So we know we can do it.”

Arkansas will look for improved three-point shooting when it plays No. 8 Baylor at 6:30 p.m. Central on Saturday at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Calipari said the Razorbacks — who had more turnovers (12) than assists (10) against Lipscomb — need to do more inside-out passing to free up open three-point shots.

“But we’re throwing it around the perimeter trying to shoot the three,” Calipari said. “That’s not how you do it.

“You get in the lane, you throw it, you make that three. You throw an extra pass and they’re wide open.

“If you can’t make those, I get it. You know how you get better? You get in the gym and you’re disciplined how you’re shooting the ball.

“So you shoot it the same way every time. And then you go in the game and you shoot it that way. And then demonstrated performance — you go in the game and you make threes — builds your confidence.”

Calipari said Arkansas is supposed to be a good three-point shooting team. But including two exhibition games against No. 1 Kansas and TCU along with the regular-season opener against Lipscomb, the Razorbacks are shooting 25.4% (17 of 67) on three-pointers.

Fland led Arkansas with 17 points against Lipscomb and had 22 and 11 respectively, against Kansas and TCU, but he’s 3 of 19 on three-pointers in those games.

On two-point shots, Fland is 16 of 23, scoring on a variety of drives and mid-range jumpers.

The Razorbacks started 0 of 9 on three-pointers against Lipscomb before Davis hit one from the top of the key with 2:27 left in the first half for a 32-26 Arkansas lead.

Davis, a senior guard and transfer from Florida Atlantic, finished 1 of 4 on three-pointers, but he was 2 of 3 at TCU and was a career 36.6% (132 of 361) shooter coming into the season.

Davis shot 41.1% (58 of 140) from three-point range last season.

Against Lipscomb, Davis shot 7 of 12 from the field and finished with 15 points. He didn’t attempt a free throw as the Razorbacks were 4 of 7 from the line.

“Getting to the basket and not settling,” Davis said of his offense. “Not trying to just settle for threes.

“Try to get to the basket and get fouled, but I didn’t get fouled that much.”

Ivisic was 1 of 2 on three-pointers against Lipscomb after being 3 of 9 in the exhibition games.

As a freshman at Kentucky last season playing for Calipari, Ivisic was 6 of 16 on three-pointers in 15 games. He missed the first 16 games waiting to be declared academically eligible.

Ivisic had 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 blocks against Lipscomb.

After his timely three-pointer stopped the Bisons’ comeback, Ivisic scored on a three-point play with an inside basket and free throw and added a short bank shot for his own personal 8-0 run. He finished 5 of 6 from the field.

“Because we were throwing him the ball,” Calipari said of why Ivisic took over down the stretch. “Then he physically bent over, moved the guy, got to the rim.

“He’s really skilled. He’s got to want to play rough.

“He made a three, which was a big three that stretched out the game. That’s all fine.

“If he does that post stuff and rebounds and blocks some shots and gets in better shape, I don’t mind him shooting threes.

“As a matter of fact, he’s probably making more threes than anybody on this team. How about that statement.”