FAYETTEVILLE -- Missouri is ranked 331st out of 346 NCAA Division I teams in three-point shooting at 29.5 percent going into Saturday night's game against Arkansas in Walton Arena.
Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said he doesn't find that statistic encouraging.
Up next
Arkansas men vs. Missouri
WHEN 6:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE Walton Arena, Fayetteville
RECORDS Arkansas 12-14, 5-8 SEC; Missouri 10-16, 3-9
TELEVISION SEC Network
RADIO Razorback Sports Network
NOTEWORTHY Eddie Sutton, who coached Arkansas to a 260-75 record and nine NCAA Tournament appearances in 11 seasons from 1974-1985, will be honored during a halftime ceremony and have a banner raised with his name on it.
"Auburn was shooting 30-something percent," Anderson said Thursday. "You can throw those stats out the window when you play the game at this time of the year."
The Auburn Tigers were shooting 33.7 percent on three-pointers -- including 31.1 percent in SEC play -- before hitting 15 of 23 (65.2 percent) in a 90-86 victory over the Razorbacks on Wednesday night to improve to 4-20 all-time at Arkansas.
"We didn't do a good job of rotating and fixing things," Anderson said. "I thought we did too much gambling, and that cost us there in the end."
Auburn freshman guard Bryce Brown scored all of his career-high 27 points from beyond the arc, hitting 9 of 14 three-pointers. Sophomore guard TJ Lang hit 5 of 6 three-pointers.
"We helped too much, and they made some tough shots," Arkansas center Moses Kingsley said of the defense collapsing on players who passed to Brown and Lang. "They were wide open most of the time because we helped.
"We let the drivers suck us in too much on the help, and they just kicked it out, and they were shooting and they weren't missing."
Stopping perimeter scoring has become a familiar problem for the Razorbacks (12-14, 5-8 SEC) this season. They rank 297th nationally in three-point defense at 37.0 percent.
Auburn became the ninth Arkansas opponent to shoot 40 percent or better on three-pointers -- including Akron hitting 13 of 28, Texas A&M 11 of 26, Vanderbilt 10 of 20, Mercer 10 of 25, Wake Forest 9 of 22, Georgia Tech 8 of 16, Georgia 8 of 20 and LSU 5 of 12 -- with the Razorbacks going 1-8 in those games. Their only victory was 90-85 in overtime against Vanderbilt when the Commodores hit 10 of 20.
Fifteen teams have exceeded their season three-point average against the Razorbacks, who find themselves two games under .500 despite averaging 79.7 points.
Arkansas is 10-5 in games in which it has scored 80 or more points.
"We've never had a problem scoring," senior point guard Jabril Durham said. "So we've just got to hang our hats on defense."
Anderson said the Razorbacks tried to beat Auburn with their offense instead of focusing on getting stops.
"We had some mental breakdowns, especially defensively, throughout the game and in critical situations," Anderson said.
Auburn hit five three-pointers in the final 7:19 -- three by Brown and two by Lang -- to overcome a 71-64 Arkansas lead.
"We just made bonehead decisions," Durham said of the defensive lapses.
Arkansas guards Anthlon Bell and Dusty Hannahs are averaging 16.4 and 15.9 points, respectively, but are not strong defenders. Late in close games, Anderson often will substitute Manny Watkins and Anton Beard for Bell and Hannahs on defense.
"I think you have to try to manage the best you can, get the right guys out there," Anderson said. "I've got to do my part from a coaching standpoint of putting them in situations where they can be successful.
"It's something we've kind of covered up at times, but it seems like when adversity comes it really kind of stands out. So we've got to do much better in that area.
"That's got to be about guys developing and getting a better sense of pride in terms of your defense."
Sports on 02/19/2016