FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas dominated most aspects of its exhibition game against Central Oklahoma last Friday night as evidenced by the Razorbacks' 110-74 victory, but one problem area was perimeter defense.
Central Oklahoma, an NCAA Division II teams, shot 48 percent on three-pointers, making 12 of 25 attempts.
UP NEXT
Men’s exhibiton game
Arkansas vs. Pittsburg (Kan.) State
WHEN 7 p.m. Thursday
WHERE Walton Arena, Fayetteville
Arkansas junior guard Anthlon Bell said he believed the Bronchos' three-point success was a combination of hot shooting and some first-game jitters by the Razorbacks.
The Razorbacks' newcomers included guards Jabril Durham, Anton Beard and Nick Babb and forwards Keaton Miles and Trey Thompson.
Plus, senior guard Ky Madden and junior forward Michael Qualls sat out the first half for disciplinary reasons, when Central Oklahoma hit 8 of 17 three-pointers to trail 49-38.
"I don't think it's too much to worry about," Bell said of the defense. "But we know it's something we have to get better at."
Seth Heckart and Mahlon Jones combined to make 10 of 15 three-point shots, with Heckart going 6 of 10.
Heckart, a junior guard, impressed by hitting some shots from well beyond the three-point arc, which is 20 feet, 9 inches from the basket. His back-to-back three-pointers gave the Bronchos a 17-13 lead with 12:40 left in the first half.
"One thing about a shooter, if you let him get started, you're going to have a tough night," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "As a team, if a guy's making it from 22 feet out, we'd better make hit shoot it from 32 feet out.
"That's got to be our mentality. There were a few times we were almost there, so that was a lesson learned, because we're going to play some teams that have multiple guys that can really shoot the basketball."
Bell said improving perimeter defense has been a focal point going into the Razorbacks' second exhibition game against Pittsburg (Kan.) State at 7 p.m. Thursday in Walton Arena.
"That's something that Coach has emphasized all through practice," Bell said. "We've had intense defensive practices."
Anderson said the Razorbacks became overly aggressive on defense going for steals against Central Oklahoma and left gaps for the Bronchos to get open outside shots. He said the Razorbacks had some fundamental errors, too.
"We didn't do a very good job whether it be switching or getting the ball out of the ball-handler's hands and rotating to the shooters," Anderson said. "So it's always something to be working on, along with dribble penetration, keeping guys out of the lane.
"If we make them take long shots, there are going to be long rebounds, and we want to get those rebounds and be in transition offensively. Just be in attack mode. That's going to be the big key."
The Razorbacks were strong inside defensively -- granted it was against Central Oklahoma, not Kentucky -- with 12 blocked shots. Moses Kingsley, a 6-10 sophomore, had 4 blocks, while 6-11 Bobby Portis, 6-8 Jacorey Wiliams, 6-7 Keaton Miles and 6-6 Alandise Harris each had 2.
"When we put pressure on the perimeter, obviously guys are going to penetrate," Anderson said. "So to have someone back there that can time and block shots is big.
"But what's even bigger is you block those shots and you come up with them, and we did that. That turned into some transition offense for us."
Sports on 11/12/2014