FAYETTEVILLE — A well-tested bunch of Ospreys will swoop into Bud Walton Arena on Saturday afternoon without fear.
At least that’s the thought of Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson, whose Razorbacks (7-1) will be trying to win their fifth straight game when they host North Florida (3-7) in a 4:30 p.m. contest televised by the SEC Network.
The Ospreys, a mascot based on fish-eating birds of prey, have lost to three SEC foes - LSU (78-70), Florida (91-60) and Auburn (83-66). They also lost at Miami (94-66) and at Syracuse (77-71).
“They have played a monster schedule with the last game being at Syracuse,” Anderson said. “... They are a team that loves to be uptempo.”
Arkansas - currently projected as a NCAA Tournament 12th seed in Joe Lunardi’s ESPN Bracketology - whipped North Florida 97-72 last season at Bud Walton Arena.
The Ospreys are led by eighth-year head coach Matt Driscoll, who steered his team to the NCAA Tournament in 2015.
“They won’t be in fear, I know that,” Anderson said. “They played us last year here and they will come in with a lot of confidence. I think it is very evident from early on. They have played some games early where they got beat pretty good, but then as they continue to play those teams such as Syracuse, you go play there and played them a six-point game.
“Florida probably caught them on the right night, but I am sure he put this schedule together for his conference. At the same time, you do get better. If these games don’t destroy you, they will your better. I think his team will be tested when they come here so we are going to have to play our butts off.”
North Florida is led by 6-1 senior guard Dallas Moore, who is averaging 21.4 points per game, shooting 45.6 percent from 3-point range and has scored 29, 31 and 30 points in his last three games.
He joins 6-11, 250-pound junior center Romelo Banks (10.1, 6.5) as the only two players averaging double figures.
“They play some zone, some man,” Anderson said. “ They want to spread the floor and they shoot a lot of threes. Threes and layups. And they have got some size. They’ve got a big kid named Banks) there in the middle. We know the Dallas Moore kid because last year he played well against us. The last three games he averaged like 30 points a game. So they want to play uptempo and they’ll attack our pressure defense and let it fly.”
Arkansas is looking to improve its mark to 56-2 against non-conference foes at home under Anderson.
“I really feel it’s the approach,” Anderson said. “I think every game is a big game no matter who you play. And as you are starting out the season it’s a process with your team in terms of trying to create the type of team that you want. You have got a lot of different pieces each and every year. Every year is a different team.
“So as you put it together, of course they are excited to be playing someone other than themselves. And so throughout that process I guess it’s just the approach we take. Every game is a big game and these guys are going out and trying to play efficient basketball playing hard and playing together. We recruit winners. That’s the biggest key. You recruit that.”
The Razorbacks have an ESPN Daily RPI of 16 with one win over a top-50 foe in Houston, four wins over Top 100 teams and six wins over top 150 teams.
Arkansas is second in the SEC in scoring offense, averaging 84.2 points per game. The Razorbacks are also second in field goal percentage at 48.4 percent.
“What I am looking at more importantly is I think we are getting better as a team,” Anderson said. “I think we are playing pretty good basketball teams. Those tests we have taken so far, we have done well with the exception of Minnesota.
“They hit us in the mouth and we didn’t respond the right way. Hopefully we have learned from that and we will see even more as we finish up the non-conference schedule.”
Senior guard Dusty Hannahs has come off the bench the last two games and snapped out of a slump that included him missing 10 3-pointers in a row.
Hannahs is averaging 16.3 points per game while 6-3 junior guard Daryl Macon (11.4), 6-10 senior center Moses Kingsley (10.9, 8.0 rebounds) and 6-3 junior guard Jaylen Barford (10.4) are also scoring in double figures.
Anton Beard (8.6) and Dustin Thomas (8.1) give the Razorbacks six players scoring more than eight points per game.
“Early on I thought (Hannahs) was pressing a little bit, but he looks a lot more relaxed now,” Anderson said. “I think with this team here, it is different then was last year’s team. Last year’s team, he and (Anthlon) Bell were the guys that basically shot the ball that scored quite a bit for us as well as like Moses (Kingsley) inside.
“We have more balance I think now. But he is still our leading scorer and certainly a guy that can really put points on the board. He took his first charge the other night - did y’all notice that? I think he let everybody else know about it, too. He took his first charge in three years since he has been here. He had not even took a charge in practice. So for him to do it in a game was big for him so that’s improvement.”
Arkansas has nonconference games left with North Florida, against Texas in Houston next Saturday, North Dakota State and Sam Houston State before opening SEC play Dec. 29 against visiting Florida.
“We are maybe not turning people over as much as we have in the past, but I still think we are winning the possession game because we are so efficient on the offensive end," Anderson said. “And we were rebounding the ball, we are getting offensive rebounds and getting to the free throw line and keeping our opponents off of the free throw line. I just seeing us doing a lot of the little things that we haven’t done as well in the past and doing them a lot better now. We are getting our bench involved and it is really giving us a big lift.”