FAYETTEVILLE — Five observations, with plenty of video from Arkansas’ 71-67 win over UT-Arlington.
— Barford breakout saves Hogs
Jaylen Barford made one of two free throws early in the second half with Arkansas trailing. Then he scored on a layup. Then this happened.
The 3-pointer, steal and dunk were the highlight of his eight straight points to give Arkansas its first lead, part of a 20-2 run to open the second half and put the Razorbacks in control. It was easily the best stretch of basketball Barford has played in this young season, one that came after he received a pep talk demanding he be more aggressive from coach Mike Anderson at halftime.
He was. His ability to use his size against smaller guards (whether that be weight or height-wise) is an asset. He can make plays off the bounce.
His ability to push tempo allows the Hogs to create mismatches against defenses that aren’t already set. While he hasn’t been a great distributor through three games, he has shown the requisite creativity and skills to be that player.
Friday was a marked step in the right direction and a needed outburst to help the Hogs remain unbeaten and avoid an upset home loss.
— Beard steps up down stretch
Anton Beard played on a North Little Rock high school team that featured other top players like Adrian Moore, Florida guard KeVaughn Allen and Ohio State receiver K.J. Hill. The Wildcats blew out most teams, but whenever the going got tough, Beard was the go-to player. He excelled in crunch-time moments.
Friday was a throwback in that sense. UT-Arlington guard Erick Neal hit some big shots late, but Beard had an answer. He scored all 12 of his points after halftime and hit what was essentially the dagger, a step-back 18-footer with the shot clock winding down and less than a minute left, a bucket that put the Hogs up 69-64.
Not the greatest look ever, but it was clutch. And that wasn’t the only late-clock bucket he created.
Beard has been superb off the bench in three games, averaging 9.7 points, 3.7 assists and 2.7 rebounds in 17 minutes a game while shooting 50 percent from both the floor and 3-point range. His bounce-back campaign has gotten off to a promising start. The Hogs don’t win Friday without him.
— Risk-reward defense
This was UT-Arlington’s first possession Friday.
Moses Kingsley shows and Daryl Macons gets the deflection and steal on a sloppy pass, leading to a quick fast-break opportunity. This is the dream result of Anderson’s ultra pick-and-roll defensive scheme.
This was UT-Arlington’s second possession.
The risk-reward of the scheme, showcased in the opening minute.
Kingsley again shows and it winds up becoming a switch, but Dusty Hannahs is slow to react. Daryl Macon helps from the wing onto the roll man. Hannahs chases the roll man when he does react, only then realizing Macon has already switched, which leaves the wing shooter as his responsibility. It’s too late. An example of a defense not playing on a string as a collective. UT-Arlington hit 8 of 15 first-half 3-pointers.
Some of the open looks came as a result of Arkansas simply failing to get back.
Trey Thompson trips near midcourt, which forces Macon to cover Thompson’s man and prevent the hit-ahead pass for a layup, a decision that in turn leaves Macon’s open for a 3. The Hogs were slowing getting back several times. It can’t happen.
But UT-Arlington did cool to the tune of 4 of 14 after intermission, so here’s a good defensive PNR sequence, albeit still from the first half.
Kingsley shows briefly before diving back to the paint in chase of his man. Thomas does an excellent job rotating over to bump the roller and then sprinting back to the arc to get an excellent contest. Airball.
The Hogs gave up a ton of 3-pointers in the first half and dug themselves a big hole. They got out of it in the second half in part by forcing 12 turnovers and scoring 18 points off them. Give and take.
— Kingsley shut out of offense
A glance at the box score indicates Kingsley had a tough night. The senior forward finished with just five points on 2 of 5 shooting. He did have three turnovers, but it’s hard to blame Kingsley for the lack of offensive productivity. On another note, he did have four blocks, running his total to 16 in three games.
UT-Arlington did a nice job making it hard to get Kingsley the ball in the paint. He only had 14 touches in the halfcourt offense in his 30 minutes, including just four in the paint. The Mavericks frequently deployed a 2-3 zone that sagged around Kingsley. They also fronted him, daring Arkansas to try to enter it over the top.
But there were other times Kingsley had his man sealed and the Hogs just didn’t get him the ball.
He’s frustrated there, which is understandable. He tried a 20-footer in the second half, a shot he missed and has no business taking. But on a night like Friday, there wasn’t a guarantee he was going to get many others.
His best look came on a pick-and-roll with Hannahs in the first half. He delayed his roll to the rim a bit and Hannahs did a nice job patiently letting the action develop in front of him without forcing it.
Easy dunk. Arkansas has showed signs of using more pick-and-roll action this year. Kingsley could have a devastating effect as a roller, particularly if Hannahs or Macon is stationed on the weak side of the court. Dustin Thomas is a skilled enough offensive player to unlock a lot of options if he gets the ball as a roll man against a scrambling defense. The action would potentially help grease the wheels of the offense if utilized in earnest more frequently and with the right personnel.
But bottom line, even with the added offensive weaponry, Arkansas has to find ways to get Kingsley more involved.
— Anderson shortens rotation
Freshman C.J. Jones scored 11 points in 17 minutes in his college debut in Monday’s 90-65 win over Southern Illinois. Every player on the roster played.
Jones — along with the rest of the freshmen — didn’t get off the bench Friday, even with Arkansas struggling offensively for stretches of the game. Anderson said after the game he wanted defense out on the court. Can’t argue with the results.
In the first real down-to-the-wire game of the year, Anderson went with a nine-man rotation, with every member of the starting five playing at least 26 minutes. Beard played 18 minutes, including the final 14:46.
Anderson did a nice job subbing offense for defense with Manny Watkins and Dusty Hannahs down the stretch. Interestingly, Macon, a better two-way player than either, didn’t play the final 6:32 after picking up his fourth foul. A lot of that probably had to do with how well Beard was playing. And he clearly trusts Watkins, who did a nice job playing the passing lane for a steal that led to his converted and-1 to put the Hogs up seven with less than two minutes left.
Also of note, Arlando Cook (13 minutes) nearly doubled the playing time Trey Thompson (7) got. Cook had a point, rebound, steal, block and turnover in 13 minutes, during which the Hogs were -8. Thompson was active in his time, finishing +5 with three points and four rebounds and turnovers. He converted a big and-1 off one of his three offensive boards to cut into the UTA lead after it ballooned to a game-high 17.
Stray Thoughts
— Arkansas again used a decent amount of 2-3 zone.
— Kevin Hervey is the Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year, but — like Kingsley — isn’t really on many draft analysts radars at the moment. Kingsley is actually on some lists, ranked No. the 92 overall prospect by DraftExpress and No. 94 by ESPN, the two most reputable scouting sites. Hervey isn’t in the top 100 on either and is ranked the No. 37 junior by DraftExpress. It’s evident he’s still working his way back from an ACL injury. He wasn’t incredibly impressive Friday. Definitely has a nice skill set for someone who is 6-9 but also had a tendency to float around and ball stop on offense. Came off the bench and finished with eight points (3-8 FG), three rebounds, three turnovers and four fouls in 18 minutes. Not a great night for NBA prospects at Bud Walton.
— UT-Arlington senior forward Jorge Bilbao was pretty impressive. He wasn’t afraid to mix it up and did a lot of dirty work. He only scored four, but had a game-high nine rebounds, including six (!) of UT-Arlington’s 14 offensive rebounds, which led to 18 points. Defensive rebounding is still an issue.
— Hannahs hit two first-half 3-pointers and made 3 of 4 free throws late, but had a subpar shooting game overall. Had some good looks that just didn’t go in. Did hit one from about 28 feet and shortly after came up short on another from roughly the same distance. Hard to argue with the shot selection for someone as good a shooter as him.
— As a whole, Hogs were 5 of 15 from 3-point range, their worst showing of the year. Not good, but not dreadful.
— The estimated crowd was 6,623, a jump of more than 2,000 from Monday’s game with Southern Illinois. The lower bowl seemed pretty full, relatively speaking… which is a bit telling. But the crowd present was very active and loud, especially during the run that got the Hogs back in the game in the first half, the spurt to begin the second and down the stretch.
— The intro video and starting lineup presentation are pretty weak. The video is somewhat anticlimactic. Kanye’s “Power” gets played after it, which is cool, but cuts off in the midst of the player introductions for a random, much-less-epic song. There are now smoke machines for the player intros, but they’re resting on top of what looks like the rolling carts that TV’s in elementary and high schools would go on. And Friday they didn’t even turn the lights out during intros. Lot of room for improvement, but at least John George is a legend and delivers every night.