PROVIDENCE — John Calipari has Arkansas advancing in his first season in charge.

No. 10 Arkansas (21-13), and its bench boss, rode a gritty second-half performance to a 79-72 first-round triumph over Kansas (21-13) in the NCAA Tournament. Jonas Aidoo played hero with 22 points to lead Arkansas at the Amica Mutual Pavilion on Thursday night in Providence, Rhode Island.

Johnell Davis finished with 18 points and DJ Wagner added 14 for Arkansas. Trevon Brazile added a double-double with 11 points and a dozen rebounds.

The Razorbacks will play the winner of St. John’s and Omaha on Saturday. Game time is TBA.

"There's stuff going forward that's good for us," Calipari said. "This was a good one. That was an NCAA Tournament game, two teams battling it out, making shots, making plays and we got away from them at the very end."

"We all know we have something to prove," Aidoo said. "We went through a lot of adversity, injuries, missing players and let a couple games go. Starting 0-5 in the conference, all of those things, helped us build our confidence, build our strength and get us ready mentally for the rest of the season."

The Razorbacks survived Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson as the star big man finished with 11 points and nine rebounds. Zeke Mayo finished with 18 points, while AJ Storr (15 points) and KJ Adams (13 points) were also in double figures for Kansas. Both teams shot 43% from the floor and Kansas held a 38-34 rebounding margin.

The Jayhawks rallied from down 11 in the second half, but a wing 3-pointer from Davis with 1:43 left gave Arkansas a 71-67 lead. Davis' triple capped a 7-0 run for Arkansas and it was too much for Kansas to overcome.

"We have to rely on everyone," Calipari said. "When you're down in numbers, everyone's got to help you. That's where we are. Again, the second half, we didn't shoot it well. We didn't make 3s, but we made the ones that mattered and we made free throws."

Kansas cut it to a 75-72 deficit on a 3-pointer by Rylan Griffen with 13 seconds left, but Arkansas salted away the game at the line.

"We did a lot of the damage ourself, but their length bothered us all night long," Self said. "We had open passes and couldn't pass over them and they got steals or deflections off of plays that could potentially be layups for us."

The first half was what spectators have come to expect from a Calipari and Bill Self coached game. There was eight lead changes and neither team led by more than seven.

Back-to-back jumpers from Arkansas before the horn was the difference as the Razorbacks took a 47-44 lead into the break. The first 20 minutes had a breakneck pace, and the shooting held up. Kansas shot 43.8% from the floor and Arkansas lit up Providence shooting 54.3% in the first half.

It was also a battle of big men between Kansas’ Dickinson and Arkansas’ Aidoo. Dickinson finished the half with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. And Aidoo led all scorers at the intermission with 16 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Kansas’ Mayo paced the Jayhawks in scoring with 13 points on 4-4 shooting in the first 20 minutes.

When the Razorbacks surged to a 12-5 lead on DJ Wagner’s and-one finish with 15:52 left in the first half, the Jayhawks responded quickly. Behind Mayo’s triple from the key and fastbreak layup, Kansas knotted the game at 14-all with 14:25 left in the half.

Kansas never led by more than two, a 40-32 advantage, in the first half.