The Hogs really needed that one. After a pair of losses to top-10 teams in November, John Calipari had to be happy to look up at the schedule and see Louisville. The Cardinals may be ranked sixth, but they’ve been no match for Cal in the last 15-plus seasons.
Arkansas’ 89-80 victory moves Calipari to 14-3 against Louisville since 2010. Much more importantly, it delivers the first big win of the year for the Razorbacks, who move to 6-2 and suddenly have a strong resume.
Darius Acuff had 17 points, 10 assists, and five rebounds, becoming the first freshman ever to have 15+ points, 10+ assists, and 5+ rebounds in a win over an AP top-10 team. Yes, there are a lot of qualifiers on that stat, but it’s still impressive. Trevon Brazile had 21 points, doing most of his damage in a monstrous first half that saw the Razorbacks lead 47-29 at the break. As we probably could have expected, the Hogs had to white-knuckle parts of the second half, but Louisville never got closer than five points (and not closer than six with the ball).
Facing the national leader in Game Control, the Hogs dominated, holding an average lead of 9.6 points throughout the game. The Hogs led by as many as 20 and Louisville never led.
Neither team could do much in fast break (remember from the preview, Louisville came in ranked 1st in the nation at preventing fast break points), but the Hogs dominated in halfcourt offense, 74-56, while Louisville’s 14 extra transition possessions amounted to only nine additional points.
From the preview:
Right now, Louisville only has three reliable guys 6’6 or taller. They were counting on Khalifa and Pryor to be a bigger factor this season. If they continue to struggle, rebounding will continue to be an issue for Louisville.
…
For rebounding, Arkansas has a bit of a size advantage, especially at the 4, where 6’7 Hadley will have to match up with 6’10 Trevon Brazile, and then the 6’10 Pryor – who might not clear concussion protocol and has been limited anyway – is the only other player with any size who can hang with Brazile. Arkansas really needs to punish Louisville on the offensive boards. If they lose this game, failure to dominate the offensive glass might end up being a reason.
There you go: 43% offensive rebound rate, and Brazile was fantastic. Having a 4 who is 6’10 and can play on the perimeter is going to create advantages on a regular basis. Some teams have a Coen Carr or a Cameron Boozer, but most do not, and those that don’t are going to be in trouble against the Razorback frontcourt.
Case in point:
Dominance from Brazile, who takes home MVP honors. Billy Richmond III was plus-17, which is fantastic. And also Acuff had an inefficient scoring night, hence the minus-3.6 box contribution, but I thought he was really good overall.
Biggest of all was Malique Ewin, who was awesome down the stretch. He was facing a smaller opponent, but he was just fantastic and helped punish Louisville’s poor rebounding late in the game. Cardinal center Sananda Fru had a hard time contesting shots from Arkansas’ guards and then getting back to get a body on Ewin:
Highlights
Up next
Arkansas steps out of big games on Saturday to face Fresno State in North Little Rock. The Bulldogs aren’t bad so I’m not expecting a total blowout, but they’re probably not quite as good as Winthrop was.