5 Observations from Arkansas' 92-73 win over Missouri

FAYETTEVILLE — Five observations, with video, from Arkansas' 92-73 home win over Missouri.

— Starting lineup shakeup

Anton Beard’s first start since Dec. 1 didn’t begin in great fashion. The junior point guard entered the game with the best assist-turnover ratio among the Razorback guards, but turned it over twice in the game’s first 80 seconds.

But that was a minor road bump in an otherwise typical, solid performance for Beard, who returned to the starting lineup alongside Dustin Thomas to round out a group that included Moses Kingsley, Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon, a lineup that entered the game, surprisingly, having only played together for 2:53 this entire season.

Beard finished with 11 points on 3 of 5 shooting and three assists, a plus-15 before fouling out in 27 minutes. Given the nature of the game, he didn’t need to play big minutes, but perhaps Saturday signals a decision to give him more responsibility.

Beard has been far and away the Razorbacks’ best table-setter this season. The Razorbacks entered Saturday averaging a whopping 122.6 points per 100 possessions with Beard on the floor, one of the best marks on the team and 20 points higher than Barford, the other (nominal) point guard on the roster.

He knows how to manipulate a defense and can see the entire floor.

Head on a swivel.

Saturday, he added a little #SCTop10 flair.

Beard makes the right plays and knows how to finagle his way into the paint despite being undersized and not particularly athletic. His ability to finish around the rim as the shortest player on the roster is underrated.

The Hogs are better with Beard on the court. Period.

— Offense hums with pace, passing, perimeter shooting

Missouri is the worst team in the SEC because it has one of the worst offenses in college basketball. The Tigers entered Saturday with a 96 offensive rating, which ranked No. 315 out of 351 teams. The number is flat-out putrid in three SEC games, dipping to a league-worst 91.7 points per 100 possessions.

But the Tigers aren’t awful defensively, a middle-of-the-pack bunch that came in to the game ranked among the top 65 in the nation in defensive rating and allowing 100.7 points per 100 in SEC, good for seventh in the conference.

In that light, Arkansas’ offensive output Saturday was impressive. The Razorbacks posted a blistering 124.3 offensive rating and shot 56 percent from the floor. The raw numbers are obviously great, but the way they generated looks in transition and working against both Missouri’s 2-3 zone and man defense was the most encouraging aspect of it.

Pace was key. The Razorbacks ran whenever they could and scored 21 fast-break points. Their possessions averaged 15 seconds, in line with their 15.2 season average which ranks 23rd in the nation.

Four players touching the ball, four dribbles and four seconds on this break after a Trey Thompson block. Superb stuff.

Arkansas’ guards got into the paint, breaking down the defense and using dribble penetration to set up kick outs to shooters rather than driving with their head down looking for their own shot. It was arguably the best showing of the year in that regard. The 18 assists (averaged just 11.5 in their first four SEC games) and 23 3-point attempts (six more than their SEC-low average of 16.9) were reflective of the offensive flow.

There wasn’t much stagnation in the halfcourt. The team-wide aggressiveness attacking the paint forced Missouri to react and scramble defensively, leaving them out of position against subsequent passes.

One of Macon’s team-high 6 assists.

Entering the game, the Hogs were attempting 3-pointers on just 27 percent of their shots, which ranked No. 333 in the nation and put them at an inherent disadvantage against high-volume 3-point shooting teams. Saturday, 3s comprised 39 percent of their attempts, a frequency that would rank fourth in the SEC and in the top third nationally. Even Manny Watkins was hitting 3s!

Drive and kick. Simple.

Arkansas attacked Missouri’s 2-3 zone, forcing defenders to shift and opening up crevices and passing lanes to shooters.

Barford, Hannahs and Macon all penetrate and kick in this possession, culminating in a wide-open corner 3 for Barford.

The Hogs have taken 44 3s their last two games after averaging just 14 in their first three SEC games. If the trend continues, it should foster better offense.

Guards weren’t the only ones responsible for generating good looks.

Kingsley didn’t have a great game, finishing with four turnovers. But he had two assists off post-ups on nice dishes to cutters, the third time in five SEC games he’s finished with multiple assists, a promising sign after he went through a bit of a black-hole stage.

Arkansas has gone to Kingsley post-ups with less frequency the last few games and he has shown better awareness, keeping his head up and acting as a facilitator depending on how the defense reacts. He's a skilled passer from the post. Trey Thompson had a few excellent passes — no surprise. More on him in a bit.

In all, it was one of the better offensive performances the Hogs have put together this season. Their 114.9 offensive rating ranks 27th in the nation, while they sit at No. 4 in SEC play at 109.6. This roster has offensive talent, but they make it much easier on themselves when they play the brand of ball they did Saturday.

— JUCO guards lead charge

Daryl Macon and Jaylen Barford were great in tandem Saturday, with Macon scoring a game-high 17 knocking down 4 of 8 3-pointers while Barford had 13 points in a performance that included several of his typical bull-like forays to set up nifty finishes at the rim in transition.

The duo’s combined 30 points was the most they’d scored since combining for 34 against Texas on Dec. 17, a performance that included makes on all 17 foul shots.

The duo’s combined 10 rebounds was their most since also posting 10 in a Dec. 3 win over Austin Peay.

The duo’s combined 8 assists was their most since recording 9 in the season-opening win over Fort Wayne on Nov. 11.

You get the picture. They were better in tandem than they have been in a long time, an important step in the right direction after Mississippi State’s guards outplayed the Razorbacks in convincing fashion.

Macon is never shy about letting it fly from behind the arc and has enough shimmy off the bounce to get off 3s no one else on the roster can. He hit a few like that Saturday. Missouri was burned on a seemingly constant basis when it went to its zone.

Barford is a menace when he gets a head of steam in transition. He has a bag of tricks around the rim that, along with his strength, make him tough to handle going full speed. He broke out the Eurostep on Saturday.

James Harden would be proud.

Obviously its oversimplifying to say Arkansas’ success is tied directly to the JUCO guard tandem. But the Razorbacks can go to another level when they play like they did Saturday.

— 3-point defense still iffy

Missouri entered the game shooting 26 percent from 3 this year, the second-worst mark in the nation. The Tigers aren’t shy about attempting 3-pointers, they just can’t make them with any consistency.

But they had easily their best-shooting performance since beginning SEC play, canning 9 of 26 for a respectable 34.6 percent after entering the game shooting just 22.2 percent in conference action.

The game came on the heels of Mississippi State knocking down 12 of 26 3-pointers in its 84-78 win in Bud Walton on Tuesday. Many of the looks Missouri had were open, including a decent chunk of the misses.

Sometimes discipline is the issue.

Thompson gives a soft hedge to the ballhandler on the pick-and-roll, allowing Beard to recover before retreating to his man, who Macon digs down on to deny on the roll. The Tigers flip it to the weakside wing and he attacks Macon’s closeout. Thompson steps up to cut off the driving lane, but Beard gave the Tigers an out by sinking down and leaving his man wide open at the top of the key.

Bi-weekly reminder that trapping can leave a defense susceptible to open shooters.

Thompson shows and traps the pick-and-roll, which results in Macon and Cook helping on the big man’s roll to the rim. Note the options available on the pause. Missouri had two wide-open corner 3s, widely considered the best shot in basketball.

Arkansas had success in the 2-3 zone earlier in the year, but it has been increasingly susceptible to giving up open looks lately.

With Watkins shading over, C.J. Jones needed to move toward halfcourt and zone up the two Missouri offensive players to discourage the long pass. Instead, it’s an open 3. The Tigers hit a few 3-pointers after halftime against the zone.

It made sense to pressure Missouri. The Tigers are toothless offensively and haven’t shown the juice behind the arc to make the Hogs pay. If they had a good shooter or two, it could’ve been a different story Saturday given the quality of looks they were presented with.

Arkansas scored 25 points off 14 Missouri turnovers, so the pressure was effective at times, creating mayhem in sequences like this.

The pressure also can lead to this.

The turnovers and general disruption the Hogs were able to enact made the pressure a net positive even with the 3-point defense issues, but this is the gamble the Hogs make when deciding to pressure teams.

A low opponent turnover rate through four SEC games meant the math tilted in their opponents' favor. Saturday, it swung back their way.

— Thompson taking over at the 4?

Thomas was back in the starting lineup, reclaiming his spot at the 4 after three straight Arlando Cook starts.

The Hogs’ starters worked well as a unit after the Cook starting units were outscored 63-44 in 24:36 the last three games (insert disclaimer about relative competition). Thomas didn’t have a great night, finishing with more fouls (4) than points (3) or rebounds (2). Managing his fouls and staying on the court have been his big issues, but the Hogs were a team-best plus-22 with him on the floor. He and Kingsley have been a good pairing this year, for the most part.

Cook recorded just one rebound in seven minutes, the least he’s played since the season opener. Cook and Thomas have been erratic against good competition for much of the year.

Enter: Thompson. The 6-foot-9, 260-pounder had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in 16 minutes.

He turned down a good look or two but did make all three of his shots while serving as a hub for cutters and dribble handoffs. He didn’t record an assist, but showcased why he is the best passer on the team on several occasions.

He and Beard have a special chemistry. Thompson entered the night with a plus-28.6 net rating, tops among the team’s rotation players.

He’s also a sneaky good rim protector as a positional defender who uses his smarts and frame to obstruct easy pathways to the basket. He’s an underrated shot blocker: his two-block performance Saturday marked his seventh multi-block game this season and third in five SEC games.

Anderson broke out the Thompson-Kingsley frontcourt in earnest for the first time at Kentucky and the Hogs had one of their two best stretches of the game to close to within three at halftime. He didn’t the duo in tandem against Mississippi State as the Hogs were outrebounded by 12, but went to it for a stretch of 4:54 against Missouri. Arkansas traded a 9-0 run with an 8-0 Missouri run and only outscored the Tigers 13-12 when they shared the court for just the third game this year.

There were only three available rebounds during the nearly five-minute span, preventing a substantial look at the duo on the glass, but they held up well against Kentucky and Thompson is far and away the second-best rebounding big among the rotation players. He’d grabbed14.1 percent of available rebounds while on the court entering Saturday, easily superior to Thomas (11.3) and Cook (8.8). He’s a better rim protector and passer than both, while his inconsistent shooting is essentially negligible because neither Thomas or Cook have shown the ability to consistently stretch the floor.

Being in control of the game allowed Anderson to tinker with big-man combinations in the second half. Adrio Bailey played four minutes alongside Kingsley in what has become the only non-garbage time frontcourt the freshman is a part of. It hasn’t produced the rim protection or rebounding the staff would no doubt like given the athleticism of the duo, but it has potential down the road.

For now, Thompson may very well be the best option next to Kingsley. Thomas seems like a fit in the starting lineup and going that route protects Thompson from picking up two fouls before the first media timeout, but Thompson appears to be emerging as the best option, at least against physical teams.

Stray Thoughts

— Jones played five minutes for a second straight game and hit both of his 3-pointers. He’s hit 12 of 21 (57.1 percent) this year.

— Arkansas made 16 of 22 free throws (72.7 percent). Hogs are 73.7 percent in SEC play, which has caused them to slip to 76.7 for the year, slightly off the school-record 77.6 in 1961-62.

— Decent crowd after the underwhelming showing by the team Tuesday. Estimated attendance of 11,182. The Saturday afternoon timeslot helped.

— After Hannahs got into it with a Mississippi State player as the teams walked into the tunnel at halftime Tuesday, Anderson initially had his players wait for Missouri to leave the court Saturday. But Tigers coach Kim Anderson deferred, instructing his players to let Arkansas enter first.

— Mississippi State beat Texas A&M 67-59 at home to improve to 3-1 in SEC play as the Aggies dropped to 1-4. Big, big game Tuesday night in College Station.