Five observations, with video, as Arkansas earned a spot in the SEC Tournament title game with a semifinal win over Vanderbilt.
— Depth the difference for Hogs
Let’s get the obvious caveat out of the way: This wasn’t the same Vanderbilt team that routed Arkansas in February or even the one that blew a 15-point lead at home in January.
The Commodores came into Saturday fresh off an emotional overtime win over Florida, their second victory in as many days. Arkansas was the last team to take the court in Nashville thanks to a double-bye that meant it didn’t play until Friday night, a 73-72 victory over Ole Miss.
Arkansas had a short turnaround, taking the court about 16 hours after the nail biter against the Rebels. But the Hogs had a big advantage in the semifinal matchup.
Vanderbilt’s lack of depth has been a problem all year. The Commodores entered the game playing about as well as anyone in the SEC, but they didn’t have the horses to run with Arkansas, arguably the deepest team in the league.
Mike Anderson played 11 players, including 9 that played at least 9 minutes. The Hogs’ depth has been a strength all season.
Vanderbilt only has 7 players who average more than 8 minutes per game. Bryce Drew has a very short bench. He tried to lengthen it Saturday in an effort to ward off fatigue, but the Commodores’ tired legs were very apparent against an Arkansas team looking to push the pace. The Hogs wisely sent some full-court pressure at the Commodores in hopes of further getting into their legs.
Vanderbilt, one of the best and toughest offenses to guard in the league, posted an adjusted 83.8 offensive rating, its worst against an SEC foe this year. It has a 112.3 rating this season.
The Commodores hit 43 percent of their 3-pointers in the 2 regular-season meetings between the teams, but managed just 8 of 31 on Saturday, including only 4 of their first 25. Arkansas’ defense was responsible for some of the misses, especially early when they did a superb job switching across the board to prevent the Commodores from having any openings to exploit. But Vandy also missed a number of good looks it normally makes.
It took Vanderbilt more than 6 minutes to score to start the game, one of a few prolonged droughts. The Commodores went nearly 6 minutes without a field goal to start the second half as Arkansas turned a 35-31 halftime lead into a laugher.
The Hogs scored the first 10 points of the second half and opened the stanza with a 21-4 run to effectively punch their ticket to a rematch with Kentucky in the title game.
Jaylen Barford was instrumental in the run and all game (more on him in a bit), but everything was working for the Hogs during the spurt.
Arkansas shot just 5 of 17 from 3-point range, but made 3 straight in less than 2 minutes to extend the lead to 21.
The Hogs lead the SEC in 3-point percentage and can hit teams with quick runs when their guards get it going.
That’s been the story most of the year, especially after halftime. The Hogs are a second-half team. They’ve outscored opponents by just 6 total points in the first half through 33 games. In the second half, they’re plus-208.
Vanderbilt is the opposite. The Commodores are plus-107 in the first half this year, but minus-11 after halftime.
That dichotomy couldn’t have been more evident Saturday.
— Hogs follow Barford’s lead
Jaylen Barford wears No. 0, the same number worn by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook.
While Westbrook is a perennial All-Star and obviously the vastly superior player (to be very clear, this isn’t a comparison of their talent level), there are similarities between the pair’s games, beyond jersey number.
Both are volume scorers who can put up big numbers but don’t always do it in the most efficient fashion. But both also impact the game and their teams in hard-to-quantify ways by their motors, the force and energy with which they play.
Arkansas has won 8 of its last 9 games. Barford is averaging a team-best 16.2 points per game during that stretch, including scoring a game-high 18 points Saturday.
He’s been a different cat late in the season, playing with more gusto and flair than he did early in the season as he tried to find his footing.
He has a knack for going on mini-runs at opportune times. In the first half, he scored 7 straight Arkansas points to help the Razorbacks head to halftime with a lead.
After halftime, he scored 4 points in the 10-0 run to start the second half.
He’s normalized acrobatic finishes like that throughout the course of this year, taking the ball into the teeth of the defense and finishing with a combination of power and guile through and around bigger players.
Finishes like that or transition dashes that Barford loves so much have an effect on the rest of the team.
The Hogs feed off Barford’s energy. He has been the driving force behind the late-season push.
— Arkansas in attack mode
Barford wasn’t the only one who took it to the cup throughout the game.
The Razorbacks outscored Vanderbilt 46-16 in the paint, a massive margin, even when taking into account how many 3s the Commodores shoot.
Vanderbilt center Luke Kornet, a first-team All-SEC performer, had 3 impressive first-half blocks, but that didn’t deter the Razorbacks.
The Hogs shot 54 percent inside the arc and finished much better around the rim a day after making just 12 of 31 layups. Saturday was a performance more reflective of their ability.
Barford, Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon only combined to score 6 more points (49) than they did against Ole Miss, but did so much more efficiently, shooting 19 of 38 a game after going 11 of 36, their worst showing of the year.
They missed a ton of shots they typically make against the Rebels.
They made those shots against the Commodores.
Moses Kingsley played a big role in Arkansas’ dominance in the paint, too, finishing with 12 points on 6 of 10 shooting to go along with a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Razorbacks were the aggressors Saturday. A similar mindset would go a long way against Kentucky.
— Overcoming the lack of production at the 4
There’s no getting around it: The 4 is the weak link on this Arkansas roster. It’s not close, really.
It has been this way most of the year. Dustin Thomas and Arlando Cook have shown flashes of potential, but struggle to put together consistently good performances.
Thomas started his seventh straight game Saturday and was ineffective. He went 1 of 5 from the floor, scoring 2 points and adding a rebound, 3 assists and 2 turnovers in 17 minutes.
He had 2 shots blocked, a continuation of the issues he’s had finishing around the rim this year. He missed both of his jumpers, dropping him to 6 of 23 on spot-up shots this season. He committed this head-scratching double dribble near halfcourt after he picked up his dribble to pass to a teammate and then changed his mind.
Arlando Cook can be a plus with his hustle, but accumulated 4 fouls and 3 rebounds in his 9 minutes. Mike Anderson went to freshman Adrio Bailey late in the first half because his 2 juniors were ineffective.
Arkansas didn’t do a good job handling the double teams Vanderbilt sent at Kingsley in the first half. While this isn’t all on the 4s, the Razorbacks’ lack of a threat there played a role.
It’s easier for an opposing defense to run an extra defender at Kingsley if they know there’s a good chance whoever is playing next to him in the frontcourt won’t be able to make them pay.
Vanderbilt sends the double from Thomas' man even though he’s standing underneath the rim without help beneath the foul line initially. Kingsley is a good post passer and has picked apart double teams at times this year, but had to settle for escape dribbling out to the perimeter as the Hogs re-set the offense several times. That’s a win for Vanderbilt. Arkansas was unable to cut or balance the floor around Kingsley in a way to take advantage of the double teams.
Trey Thompson had a solid Trey Thompson game in his 15 minutes. He’s far and away the best running mate for Kingsley. He also has to back up the senior.
The first Kentucky meeting provided the first extended look at the Kingsley-Thompson pairing this season. Expect to see it a lot Sunday.
— Maximizing the pick-and-roll
Arkansas has incorporated a large dose of ball screens into its motion offense this year.
It’s a smart move. The Razorbacks have playmaking guards who, as a collective, are among the nation’s best in scoring off of pick and rolls.
Arkansas averages 0.88 points per possession that ends in a shot for the ballhandler out of the pick-and-roll, according to Synergy Sports, which puts it in the 93rd percentile nationally. The action can generate separation for the Hogs’ guards, who don’t need much room to get off a decent look.
But Arkansas is borderline awful at the other half of the pick-and-roll: getting the ball to the roll man. Entering Saturday, the Hogs had ended just 40 possessions with a shot, foul or turnover by the roll man this year, which means it happens about once a game. They averaged 0.75 points per possession on those 40, which is in just the 8th percentile.
Most of the time, the ballhandler doesn’t even give the roll man a cursory glance, much less slip him a pass. Too often, the bigs will try to slip the screen or roll early rather than set a firm, sturdy screen. Both parties are bailing the defense out in those scenarios.
But Saturday was probably the best Arkansas’ guards have done getting the ball to the roll man this season.
Two nice dishes by Hannahs and an excellent pocket pass by Macon.The bigs could’ve done a better job finishing, but being able to hit the roll man is a key part of making the pick-and-roll effective. Without the threat of a pass to the roll man, the action becomes easier to defend.
Arkansas’ guards, especially Macon and Hannahs, are crafty passers. They have shown the ability to slip clever little passes on occasion.
The pick-and-roll is arguably the hardest play to defend because it forces the defense to think, rotate and be on the same page. Saturday, the Hogs did a much better job maximizing it.
Stray Thoughts
— C.J. Jones checked in with 7:12 left and Arkansas up 25. The situation seemed tailor-made to allow the freshman guard some extended run. If he’d closed out the game, it would’ve been the most he’d played since Dec. 22. But he checked out 2 minutes later with the Hogs up 21. Anderson re-inserting the starters with a commanding lead was a somewhat interesting decision, given the Hogs play at noon Sunday. But the lead did dwindle to 13 and it’s hard to fault a coach for wanting to make sure the victory is secure. Most coaches will err on the side of caution there.
— Vandy started 0-9 against Arkansas’ man defense, then hit its first shot when the Hogs switched to a zone.
— Arkansas, Daryl Macon, especially, tried to shoot the gap on a lot of baseline screens, which was interesting. Worked some, also gave the Commodores some corner 3 looks.
— Fayetteville native Payton Willis did not have a good game, scoring just 2 points on 1 of 6 shooting with no assists and 2 turnovers in 19 minutes.
— Bailey didn’t do anything in his 7 minutes to suggest he’s on the brink of earning more playing time the rest of this year. Hard position to be put in for a freshman.
— Kentucky is a tough matchup for Arkansas and is on a roll, but this weekend has been a win for Arkansas no matter what happens tomorrow. The Hogs reached the 25-win mark for the second time in 3 years, the first time they’ve done that since the mid-90s.