Arkansas got back in the win column on Monday night with a 93-56 win over in-state foe Central Arkansas.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the first of four straight buy games started a bit slow for the Razorbacks, who led just 43-34 at halftime. But the second half was never close. Arkansas outscored UCA 50-22 after the break and cruised to an easy win.

The Bears might end up finishing below Southern for the title of weakest opponent on the Arkansas schedule this year. Second-year coach John Shulman went just 9-24 in his debut season a year ago. His bizarre resume includes two NCAA Tournament appearances in nine seasons at Chattanooga before he was fired after the program tanked in his final two seasons. He took a job at a private high school in Chattanooga, working his way from there to Division II Alabama-Huntsville, going 112-39 in five seasons there before UCA hired him.

The Bears are unlikely to ever be competitive in Division I basketball. They made the jump from D-II with football in mind, but their basketball facilities are D-II at best, and outside of capturing some lightning in a bottle with local prospects, it’s hard to see how they’ll ever attract enough talent to win much. Shulman is the latest to give it a shot, but he doesn’t seem to have much of a strategy outside of “launch a million three-pointers.”

Arkansas played this game without Trevon Brazile, who is reportedly dealing with back spasms. Maybe he was also being punished for whacking a Michigan State fan with a towel, but if he’s hurt at all, he definitely needs to get to 100% before the Duke game on Thanksgiving.

Advanced stats

UCA’s first opponent – North Carolina – pulverized them in transition, and that happened yet again on Monday.

Arkansas scored 47 points on 31 transition possessions, with 30 of those being fast break points. That allowed the Razorbacks to play at a blistering pace (12.5 seconds per offensive possession), earning 75 possessions despite the Bears offense playing slow.

Arkansas’ halfcourt offense is going to be one to watch early in the year. It was awful against Michigan State, and while a 104.5 efficiency and 45% scoring rate in this one aren’t bad, that’s pretty pedestrian considering the quality of opponent. Most of the big opponents on the Razorback schedule are going to successfully slow them down, so they have to produce a decent halfcourt offense to have a chance to win big.

The Bears let it fly… but man, the results were ugly. UCA was just 4 of 41 from beyond the arc, joining Michigan State as the second straight Razorback opponent to make less than 10% of their 3-point attempts. The Hogs’ last two opponents are 5 of 55 from 3 against them.

Arkansas didn’t get many offensive rebounds, but they didn’t really need them. The Hogs avoided turnovers (11%), finished well in the paint (71%), and were efficient from beyond the arc (57%) on high volume (54%).

Once again, more than half their field goal attempts were 3-pointers. UCA played a lot of zone, so that’s understandable, but that’s also two straight games with a 3-point usage of 50% or higher for the Razorback offense. For the season, the Hogs are just 30 of 90 (33%) from beyond the arc, but they shot well in both exhibitions and Meleek Thomas is only at 31% through three games. He’ll likely finish better than that.

If the Hogs can avoid turnovers and consistently shoot 34% or better from downtown at high volume, the offense will be very hard to stop.

This was a strong get-right game for Karter Knox, who had the highest game score. Malique Ewin also came along nicely.

Highlights

Up next

Arkansas hosts Samford on Friday night. The Bulldogs are 1-1. They can score some points, but their defense has been lit up through two games. It should be a relatively high-scoring game.