Arkansas opened up SEC play with a monster 86-75 win over Tennessee in front of a rowdy crowd in Fayetteville.
Darius Acuff led the way with a career-high 29 points as he continues his streak of dominance in Quad-1 games. He scored Arkansas’ first seven points after a slow team start and then drilled a couple of backbreaking 3-pointers in the final few minutes to seal the deal.
The bar for “best freshman in Arkansas history” is pretty high, but Acuff has a real chance to claim that title if he keeps playing like this.
Meleek Thomas had 18 points in his second-straight good game after a December swoon. Karter Knox (11 points, 7 rebounds) and Malique Ewin (12 points, 6 rebounds) were also fantastic.
Given the upcoming schedule, this was a big win. Arkansas got a very friendly schedule from the SEC office, as they play each of the conference’s currently-ranked teams only once. They can afford to drop road games against Alabama and Florida, but those aren’t until mid-February. This one – plus suddenly-huge tilts against Georgia and Vanderbilt in a couple weeks – are the only signature win opportunities until then.
I’ve written plenty of previews that turned out to not provide much insight into how the game played out at all. That did not happen this time. I would say this game played out about how I expected.
Here was our second Key to the Game from the preview:
If there’s a weakness here, it’s against iso-ball that limits the Vols’ strong team defense. That could play into the Hogs’ hands. If they can get Darius Acuff and/or Meleek Thomas going downhill inside the arc, much of the eliteness of this defense falls apart…
Tennessee’s lone game allowing 80-plus came against Kansas. Despite the Jayhawks not having superstar Darryn Peterson, they were able to get their guards in space to generate fouls and unassisted buckets. Three different guards totaled at least 13 points, and all three attempted six or more free throws. They assisted on only half of their made field goals. Arkansas is built to do the same thing.
Arkansas attempted 33 free throws and had 18 unassisted field goals (season-low 28% assist rate). Acuff and Thomas combined for 47 points. I’d say letting the guards cook worked out just fine.
- The case for Karter Knox
- Box Score Breakdown: Kentucky 85, Arkansas 77
- Matchup Analysis: Can the Hogs avoid a monster letdown against struggling Kentucky?
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There was plenty of back-and-forth in this game. The Vols jumped out to an early lead but the Hogs recovered to lead at halftime. Tennessee then maintained a slight lead for most of the second half until the Razorbacks seized control for good over the final eight minutes. Consecutive 3-pointers by Acuff-Knox-Acuff ended up pushing the lead to as much as 14 points with a minute to go before we ended up with the final margin.
As expected from the preview, Tennessee won points in the paint. Unexpectedly, the Vols also won fast break points, although it is notable they were not able to slow Arkansas down generally, as the Hogs managed a lightning-fast 15.1 seconds per offensive possession.
Winning the battle of the boards was huge. Tennessee came in leading the nation in offensive rebound rate at 46%, and the Hogs held them to just 31%. The Razorbacks didn’t shoot field goals all that well from any level, but they got to the line and made their free throws (29 of 33) while the Vols didn’t (12 of 23). Obviously, we could have had a different result if each team shot a different free throw percentage. Arkansas’ field goal defense still makes me a little nervous, as it is not nearly as good as it was last year.
As good as Acuff was, he was actually only plus-3 for the game. The Hogs expanded the lead while he was resting on the bench during the final eight minutes, and that effort was led by Thomas (plus-20), Knox (plus-20), and Ewin (plus-16). In terms of net points produced, Thomas (plus-8.2) actually edges out Acuff (plus-7.1), though his three steals were the main reason why.
For Tennessee, it was the Amari Evans show. The low-usage Vol wing made all seven shots for 16 points with three steals to boot, making him Tennessee’s best player for the game. Arkansas really limited the duo of Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Nate Ament.
And as we sort of expected from the preview, Felix Okpara was rough out there. But as they’ve done all season, Tennessee made no effort to replace him, giving him 31 minutes. Not listed on that graphic (because he wasn’t top-8 in minutes played) is his backup, JP Estrella, the guy we discussed in the preview:
When Okpara comes out, the Vols get much better, mostly thanks to Estrella, who usually replaces him. Offensively, he’s shooting a scorching 71% effective FG% on high usage, almost all of it right around the rim. That’s what sending his Offense APM into the stratosphere. That said, most of his damage came in November games against Quad-4 opponents… It’s also interesting that he scored 18 points on 7 of 7 shooting with only one turnover in the games against Kansas and Syracuse… only to be rewarded with single-digit minutes in the next two games against Illinois and Louisville.
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I am very interested to see if Tennessee tries an Estrella-Ament frontcourt for an extended period, because on paper, that would give Arkansas quite a bit of trouble.
Tennessee only gave Estrella 10 minutes against the Hogs. He used it well: 9 points on 3 of 3 shooting, plus four rebounds (two offensive) and an assist. In fairness, Tennessee was minus-5 over that stretch, but his two offensive rebounds are two more than Okpara had in his 31 minutes, and failure to reach their season average for offensive rebound rate was a big reason Tennessee couldn’t keep up.
I’m not a Hall of Fame coach like Rick Barnes will soon be, but that lineup pattern does not make a lot of sense to me.
Highlights
Up next
The Hogs are on the road next Wednesday night against Ole Miss. The Rebels already have six losses – including their SEC opener at Oklahoma – and their best win is probably Memphis. Analytics still like them because almost all their losses were very close. This one is pretty close to “need to have” status, though I’d say at minimum, the Hogs must split the two-game road trip with Auburn coming up next Saturday.