The Razorbacks avoided a post-Duke letdown with a 97-83 win over a scrappy Furman team to get to 5-3.
On the injury front, the Hogs got Tramon Mark back, and he played a surprising 26 minutes. However, the injury gods claimed Trevon Brazile in his place, as he left the game late with what Eric Musselman called a “bad sprain”. That doesn’t sound great, and it probably means he’ll miss Saturday’s Oklahoma game.
Advanced Stats
The Hogs get a grade of 73. Grades in the 70s are fine against most mid-majors, and this grades as Arkansas’ third-best performance of the season, after Duke (95) and Gardner-Webb (87).
This game was played at a very fast pace, with each team’s possessions averaging less than 16 seconds. Arkansas’ transition defense got blitzed yet again, and that’s been an unfortunate recurring issue this year.
However, the Hogs did two things well: halfcourt defense, which we expect, and transition offense, which we did not. Arkansas somehow managed 38 points on its 18 transition possessions, scoring points on 16 of them. That’s one of the best single-game transition performances by any team in college basketball this year, which is hilarious, since transition offense has been a weakness for the Hogs all season.
Facing a porous defense, Arkansas got good shot selection and shot well from all three levels. The Hogs didn’t draw many fouls and didn’t create a ton of extra opportunities, but they didn’t need to, since they shot 67% eFG%.
Defensively, not forcing turnovers continues to be an issue, and the Hogs were merely decent on the perimeter against a good-shooting offense. However, they defended at the rim very well once again, with Chandler Lawson leading the way as a rim protector. Arkansas’ rim defense continues to be a team strength.
Khalif Battle is a scoring machine: 25 points on 31% usage, zero turnovers, +14 in 23 minutes. It was also good to see Devo Davis taking a smaller offensive role. On just 8% usage, he had 7-10-8 with zero turnovers. When he’s trying too hard to score or handle the ball, he’s not helping, but when he’s passing, rebounding, and defending, he’s a great player.
Highlights
Up Next
The Hogs get a decent break before taking on Oklahoma on Saturday at the BOK Center in Tulsa. The Sooners, who rebuilt their entire roster after missing the NCAA Tournament last year, are off to a 7-0 start and are ranked in the top 20. Their overall strength of schedule is weak, but they’ve beaten USC and Iowa. This won’t be an easy game, especially if Brazile isn’t going to play.
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