Friday night's 40-point season-opening loss at Arkansas did nothing to put a damper on Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Scott Edgar's enthusiasm.

Despite being hammered by the Razorbacks 92-52, Edgar said he saw plenty that he liked -- and is anxious for the Redhawks' upcoming trip to Alaska to take part in the Top of the World Classic.

Southeast leaves early Wednesday morning for Fairbanks, where the Redhawks will play games Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The Redhawks begin the eight-team tournament at 11:30 p.m. CST Friday against Drake, which will open its season against Southeast.

Other squads in the event are Centenary, Rhode Island, Troy, Utah State, Weber State and host Alaska-Fairbanks, a Division II program.

"I'm looking forward to the entire tournament," said Edgar, in his first year at Southeast. "Those are schools maybe not of national names, but they are some very good teams."

Looking back on the Arkansas game, Edgar said, "Obviously the score is nothing you want to look at long. But I saw a lot of good things, especially in the first half.

"I liked our initial intensity, our initial enthusiasm. I thought we took the floor with swagger, which is what we're trying to do."

Southeast stayed with Arkansas for most of the first half and trailed just 36-30 in the late going.

But the Razorbacks of the Southeastern Conference closed the period with a 7-0 run to go up 43-30 and quickly pulled away in the second half.

"For the most part, the first 17 minutes, we played like I want my team to play," Edgar said. "For 17 minutes, we gave them everything they wanted."

As for the Redhawks' shortcomings Friday, Edgar said they were "things we can correct. It's hard to play a perfect game, which is what it would have taken to beat Arkansas."

Particularly on that night. Edgar expected the much taller Razorbacks to have their way inside, but he did not expect them to shoot so well from the outside. Arkansas hit 10 of 17 3-pointers.

"I knew how good Arkansas could be. We got their best game," Edgar said. "We knew how good their inside game could be. We did not expect them to shoot from the outside like that.

"If they shoot like that and play like that, they won't lose an SEC game at home."

Edgar said he particularly liked the way junior center Mike Rembert and junior point guard Paul Paradoski performed against the Razorbacks.

Rembert scored 10 early points and finished with 12. The Bradley transfer hit five of 10 shots overall, including two of four 3-pointers. He added four rebounds and three steals.

Paradoski also scored 10 first-half points and finished with 12. The third-year starter made five of eight shots, including two of four 3-pointers. He added two assists and four steals.

"I thought Mike played very well. I liked how he competed," Edgar said. "I thought Paul handled himself well, the way he ran the team. But that's his experience."

Southeast's five scholarship freshmen largely struggled in their first official collegiate games, combining to hit one of 17 shots and commiting 13 of the Redhawks' 24 turnovers.

But Edgar said he hasn't wavered in his belief that most of the freshmen can and will play key roles for the Redhawks.

"We put them in an environment they've never seen before. They had never seen that type of talent before," Edgar said. "They made a lot of mistakes, but the point is, if they're going to be beneficial to us down the road, you have to let them play in that kind of environment.

"We like to play a lot of people. I think our strength is in numbers.

"When we get to Alaska, you'll see the freshmen log a lot of minutes. We have no choice because we're not real deep with experience."