FAYETTEVILLE — Five observations from Arkansas’ 88-74 win over Missouri Western in its second exhibition game.
Bad 3-point defense
Missouri Western was within three points with less than nine minutes remaining because it was able to hit 14 of 27 3-pointers, including a sizzling 12 of 20 start.
The Griffons were hot, no doubt. But they also were able to generate a lot of good looks, particularly from the corner, arguably the best shot in basketball. Coach Brett Weiberg talked post-game about
They got some wide-open looks as a result of Arkansas over-helping off shooters.
Daniel Gafford sank down to help off the strong-side corner shooter on one possession, a big no-no. Splash, open 3.
There were other possessions where weak-side defenders sank in a step or two too far, opening up kick-outs or skip passes for open looks. A few feet may not seem like much, but it can be the difference between a contested and open 3 if an off-ball defender is too close to the lane to recover and close out.
Other 3-pointers were the result of Arkansas players getting lost or mis-communicating, leaving Missouri Western players wide open.
There is a general consensus that 3-point percentage is mostly random over a large enough sample size, essentially out of defenses’ control to a certain degree. But defenses do have a say in how many 3-pointers they allow and the caliber of those shots.
The quality and volume of 3-pointers were somewhat troubling and will provide Anderson and his staff some good teaching material.
Missouri Western took 47.4 percent of its total shots from deep, a gargantuan number. It’s just one exhibition game, to be sure, but it isn’t an isolated incident. Last year, Razorback opponents took 36.7 percent of their shots from 3-point range, slightly higher than what was an all-time record national average.
The defense wasn’t ideal Friday, but there were some encouraging developments late. Anderson went to a small-ball lineup for the final 13 minutes, playing four guards around either Gafford or senior Trey Thompson.
The adjustment paid off with increased spacing on offense while allowing Arkansas to match up better defensively. The Hogs were able to switch across the board more frequently, meaning there were less situations where off-ball defenders had to help and leave shooters than if they’d been hedging and trapping.
The Razorbacks outscored Missouri Western by 10 down the stretch, holding the Griffons to a measly 81.5 offensive rating after they’d been sitting at a toasty 108.3.
Still, there will be plenty of teaching moments centered on rotations and help defense when Anderson pulls up the film.
Rumors are true
Weiberg said he’d heard some rumors about Gafford being good.
He got to witness it first-hand Friday.
The 6-foot-11, 235-pounder again made a major impact, this time with an uptick in minutes. After putting up 8 points and 7 rebounds in the 15 minutes in the first exhibition, Gafford had 15, 8 and 5 blocks against Missouri Western.
He was extremely impressive and injected a sense of life in Bud Walton Arena after the Hogs got off to a slow start.
He started the second half alongside Thompson in place of sophomore Adrio Bailey and Arkansas ran a quick alley-oop for him, with Barford finding him for a slam nine seconds into the half.
That was the only play the Razorbacks ran for him and he still scored 15, finishing 5 of 6 from the floor and 5 of 7 from the line, the latter serving as a good sign for the Hogs. The game showcased how he can impact the offense just by being available and using his size and athleticism. On one play, he was lurking in the dunker spot and flushed a dish from Daryl Macon after the senior guard broke down the defense.
In one sequence, he flashed the effect his athleticism can have on both ends of the court, blocking a shot on one end and beating everyone down the court for a dunk on the other. He was whistled for shuffling his feet before going up, but the play was impressive nevertheless.
His offense is a bonus. His biggest value is what he provides on the defensive end.
He was a menace again Friday, recording the five blocks and changing plenty of others. Some of the rejections were just downright mean.
On one, Missouri Western 6-8 junior Alex Martin big tried to post him on the left block. You could tell Martin knew he was going to have trouble getting the shot off and tried pump-faking a few times. Gafford didn’t bite, so Martin finally went up and Gafford emphatically rejected it.
On another, he switched onto 5-11 guard Trey Brown on the perimeter. Brown was able to get past him, but Gafford had him in his sights the whole way, trailing and then volleyballing the shot off the backboard with force.
His defense when he was switched out onto guards was noteworthy. He did a good job not gambling and putting the rest of the defense in a bind, sagging off and inviting long 2s but using his length to contest when the shot did go up. That’s big if he can do a serviceable job against good guards.
Arkansas obviously hasn’t played great competition yet and Gafford will have to show he can play this way against like-sized players. But there’s no reason to think his physical ability won’t translate to real games.
And he has a ton of room to grow. He had one possession in the second half when he caught the ball at the 3-point line and almost took an ill-advised shot, but instead started backing down. He spun at the foul line and went up, drawing a foul.
It was a clanky, awkward-looking drive, but it worked because he has elite physical ability. He’s already been super effective: 22.4 points, 14.6 rebounds, 4.9 blocks and 2.9 steals per 40 minutes on 72.7 percent shooting in the exhibitions.
As he continues to grow comfortable, watch out.
Hello Hall
Darious Hall made his exhibition debut after missing the Central Oklahoma game because he bumped his head in practice.
The 6-foot-6 freshman guard made a big impact, particularly on the defensive end of the court, finishing with 6 points, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 3 rebounds in 16 minutes.
Arkansas used him to guard Missouri Western’s point guard at times and he made life difficult on the Griffons, harassing ballhandlers near midcourt and preventing them from getting into their offense easily. He had one of his steals on the press, reaching up with his 7-foot wingspan and snagging a pass that was intended to go over him.
He got beat another time on the press, which forced Thompson to help and left Thompson’s man open on the block. Hall never let up on the play and instinctively rotated to Thompson’s man, who received a dish and went up for what should’ve been an easy layup. Nope. Hall stuffed him, snuffing out a transition opportunity in impressive fashion.
He isn’t going to create his own offense on a regular basis at this point, but did have a nice straight-line drive he finished with a runner off the glass. He plays within himself on that end, which is important.
Arkansas outscored Missouri Western by 12 with Hall on the floor. It wasn’t a coincidence. He could be an intriguing option to insert into a starting lineup that performed poorly and was outscored by four in nearly 19 minutes in the two exhibition games.
Silent sophomores
Friday wasn’t a good night for sophomore Adrio Bailey.
He started alongside Thompson again, but didn’t start the second half and played just 11 minutes, the least of the eight rotation players. Arkansas was outscored by 8 with him on the floor, the only player with a negative plus-minus.
He didn’t look very confident and played less than a minute in the second half. During that short span, he was whistled for a charge on one possession and turned down an open baseline 18-foot jumper on the next, instead taking four or five dribbles and effectively killing the possession’s flow.
Anderson had seen enough and immediately took him out, going with the small-ball look the rest of the night. It was a rough performance for a guy trying to stake his claim to a starting role and regular rotation minutes while two senior forwards are suspended. His role has to be as an energy big willing to do the little things. He didn’t get it done in that regard Friday.
Fellow sophomore C.J. Jones also had an up-and-down evening. He finished with 5 points on 2 of 6 shooting and was just 1 of 5 from 3-point range in 22 minutes.
No shooter is going to be on every night, but the rest of his game wasn’t great, either. He had three turnovers, including a few careless miscues that can’t happen for a shooter who doesn’t have the ball in his hands a lot at this stage. Anderson took him out after he failed to fight over a pick-and-roll, which led to an easy layup. He was a bit jumpy on other defensive possessions, biting on pump fakes and allowing penetration as a result. His defense looked improved last week and has been better in practice, but he'll need to be consistently good on that end to earn big minutes.
Both sophomores are going to be a big part of what Arkansas does by necessity. The Hogs need Jones’ scoring ability and Bailey’s energy.
They won’t play great every night, but they’ll need to be better than they were Friday.
Breakneck speed
One of the big questions entering this season is how Arkansas will replace the production of graduated starters Moses Kingsley, Dusty Hannahs and Watkins.
Gafford is the player most capable of filling Kingsley’s role on this year’s roster. Jones is tasked with being a shooting threat in the mold of Hannahs. Hall could in time take on the defensive stopper role Watkins embraced.
Those three lack the experience of their predecessors, but they are all markedly more athletic, which should help Arkansas play at a faster pace this season.
To be clear, Arkansas has never played slow under Anderson, ranking in the top 10 percentile in offensive pace last year by averaging 15.7 seconds per possession. But the Hogs’ overall pace has been 87th or lower the two years since the shot clock was lowered to 30 seconds.
That should change this year, especially if the two exhibitions are any indication. Arkansas is operating at break-neck speed.
In the two exhibitions, the Razorbacks averaged 76.5 possessions per game and used only 13 seconds of the shot clock on average. Those figures would’ve ranked fifth and second, respectively, out of 351 teams in the nation last year.
That extreme of a pace probably isn’t sustainable against better competition, but Arkansas should be able to play much faster this year than it has the last few.
Speeding up the tempo can also lead to more turnovers, which has been the case in the exhibitions. The Razorbacks averaged 17.5, an ugly number for a team built on gaining an advantage on opponent turnovers and the easy, transition opportunities they allow.
But it’s early. Some sloppiness is to be expected. Playing at such a fast pace should help an offense that doesn’t have a ton of high-caliber shot creators in the halfcourt.
It’ll be interesting to see how fast the Hogs can play in the regular season.
Stray Thoughts
— No Gabe Osabuohien, so Anderson went with an eight-man rotation. Depth could be dicey early in the season. Barford played 36 minutes, while Beard and Macon each played 32. That could take a toll, especially with how fast the Hogs are playing. It’ll be interesting to track, because the Hogs have a five-man guard rotation like they did last year. Increasing Jones and Hall’s minutes will help give the senior trio more rest, so it’ll be worth noting to see if that happens moving forward.
— Anderson played small-ball or super big lineups for nearly 28 minutes and the Hogs outscored Missouri Western by 19 in them. Arkansas was +9 in almost 16 minutes while playing small. The Thompson-Gafford lineup was +9 in nearly 12 minutes.
— Long-time PA announcer John George was in preseason form tonight, referring to Missouri Western as Central Missouri. Maybe it fired the Griffons up and that’s why the game was so close. I kid. George is a legend and a mainstay as the PA guy at the SEC Tournament.
— Beard had a shaky preseason on the offensive end. He entered Friday having shot just 11 of 34 in the Red-White game and first exhibition. He scored 12 on a solid 3 of 6 night, but several of those came late and he had 5 turnovers. He did play well defensively. The weight he lost showed on that end and appears to have helped his ability to guard tightly on the perimeter.
— Thompson again looked a bit slower than he has in the past. He played 25 minutes, so perhaps he’ll play himself into game shape. Something to keep an eye on. Had a few turnovers, but that’ll happen when you attempt the kind of passes he is. Also had a few nice assists. He, Bailey and Gafford combined to miss the three jumpers they attempted.