FAYETTEVILLE — Five observations from Arkansas' 78-66 win over Central Oklahoma.
Do-It-All Duo
Jaylen Barford’s broad shoulders are one of the main reasons he is such a good finisher around the basket.
He uses them to help carve out space and bounce off would-be shot blockers before laying the ball softly off the glass, often at an odd angle.
Arkansas’ success this season may largely fall on those shoulders, along with fellow senior guard Daryl Macon's, if Friday was any indication.
Sure, the Razorbacks were short-handed, minus five scholarship players. Yes, Anton Beard won’t go 3 of 13 every game.
But Barford and Macon are far and away Arkansas’ top options offensively and will have to play like it for the Razorbacks to be successful. They did Friday, toying with a UCO team that started a pair of 5-foot-8 guards.
Macon scored a game-high 23 points, flashing his trademark efficiency by hitting 7 of 12 shots, 2 of 5 3-pointers and all seven of his free throws. His jumper is effortless and he could have more than a few nights where he drops 20-plus.
Barford added 19 on 8 of 12 shooting, including an encouraging 3 of 5 from 3-point range. He attacked the offseason with a goal of 400 made 3-pointers a day, armed with NBA Draft feedback telling him to work on his shot. If he can make a jump into the mid-30s this year, that would be big for the Razorbacks.
The duo combined for 42 points on 15-24 shooting, excellent numbers. Their teammates, not so much: 36 points on 11 of 32 shooting. Some of that may have been the result of fatigue with the Razorbacks only being 8-deep. But still, Barford and Macon are going to have to carry a big load on the offensive end this year, creating looks for themselves and others.
They have good on-court chemistry and did a good job looking for each other. Of their 11 combined assists, seven were to each other, including several hit-ahead passes in transition, where the Razorbacks were at their best.
But they also did a solid job in the halfcourt of setting the table for their teammates, leveraging the defensive attention devoted to them to create open looks for others. They mostly did a nice job balancing the need to score and playmake.
They also combined for seven turnovers, but that was a result of their workloads. Turnovers will often increase as usage and responsibility also go up.
A relative lack of primary ballhandlers on the roster means both will have the ball in their hands a ton, with the onus on their teammates to play off them and produce when called upon.
Bailey's shot
Senior forward Dustin Thomas’ suspension for a violation of team rules, which could last up until Arkansas goes to Portland for the Phil Knight Invitational, opens the door for sophomore Adrio Bailey to stake a claim to the starting 4 job.
The 6-7, 217-pounder started and played 25 minutes, producing a modest line of four points, seven rebounds, two assists, two turnovers, a block and a steal. He only made 1 of 4 shots and 2 of 6 free throws.
It wasn’t a standout performance.
He hit an 18-foot jumper early in the game, but didn’t do much else offensively. He caught a pass curling off a screen and made a quick, decisive move to the rim, drawing contact and heading to the line.
But the foul shooting was an issue. He made just 6 of 19 last year and spent the offseason working on his shooting form and developing a more fluid shot. He’s flashed an improved jumper in practice, but the results didn’t show up Friday.
Still, expecting Bailey to contribute as a scorer is foolhardy. That’s not his game at this point in his career. He’s an energy player whose job is to inject his athleticism and motor into the game.
He had some encouraging moments in that regard, rotating from the weak side to block one shot and altering several others. He took a charge. He tipped a few rebounds to teammates, plays that don’t show up in the box score.
Those are the type of little things he has to do on a regular basis to stick and earn big minutes. He doesn’t have Thomas’ feel for the game or experience, but Thomas can’t match what he brings to the table athletically.
Arkansas’ 4s will be role players again this year. The key is for them to be better in their roles.
Good Gafford
UCO’s two bigs were 6-6 and 6-7. It really wasn’t fair matching them against Daniel Gafford.
The 6-11 freshman was the first sub off the bench, checking in for Trey Thompson at the 14:07 mark.
His first defensive possession, he used his length to tip away an entry pass, resulting in a turnover. The next trip down the court, he showed on a pick-and-roll, tracking the ballhandler for a few steps and then quickly recovered to his man, who dove to the hoop. He got there in time to leap and tip away a lob pass, again flashing his 7-2 wingspan.
Two plays, two deflections. Mike Anderson loves deflections.
Gafford finished with eight points, seven rebounds and three steals, in 15 minutes. His plus-17 was tied with Macon for a team-high and was reflective of his impact on the game.
He had four offensive rebounds, including one near putback dunk that resulted in a trip to the line.
He probably isn’t going to create his own offense on a consistent basis at this stage and Arkansas may have tried to post him up a little bit too often, but there were a few flashes. On one possession, he sealed his man and went up for an effortless two-hand power dunk after gathering a lob over the top. On another, he drove baseline and converted a reverse layup by extending his go-go gadget arm in a ground-bound, Doctor J-esque fashion. It looked easy.
But his impact was felt most at the defensive end, where he excelled as a rim protector.
In addition to the first two plays, he tipped another pass. His length made it tough for UCO to finish near the rim — the Bronchos missed seven layups, many of them with Gafford lurking and leaping.
He’s still raw. He picked up two fouls in less than two minutes after checking in.
But there’s a lot of potential there.
That's foul
One potential issue for Arkansas is the foul shooting of its bigs.
Bailey and Gafford were both just 2 of 6 on Friday and both have struggled at the line to this point in their careers.
Both will play big minutes, especially early if the Hogs are without Thomas and Arlando Cook, who are solid at the stripe. They also have the potential to earn a lot of trips to the line based on their athleticism around the basket.
Arkansas made just 17 of 27 from the line Friday, in large part because of the bigs’ inability to knock down foul shots.
A potential trend to track.
Oddball lineups
What should be a versatile lineup didn’t have as many options for Anderson to choose from as a result of the shortened bench, but he did go small and big in both halves.
In the first, he went with guards Barford, Macon, Beard and C.J. Jones along with Gafford. That group outscored UCO 9-7 over the course of 2:15 before he went even smaller, subbing in 6-8 Gabe Osabuohien for Gafford the final 36 seconds of the half.
He closed the game with a Barford-Macon-Beard-Jones-Thompson lineup for the final three minutes and the Hogs won that segment 9-6. Arkansas rebounded well with the group and it opened up the floor for Barford and Macon to put the game on ice.
Arkansas outscored UCO 12-6 with Gafford and Thompson together for a stretch of 5:39. Those two had a major size advantage and the sample size is minuscule (as with every game when looked at individually), so it's hard to read too much into their shared time, but Arkansas did grab 8 of 11 available rebounds and held UCO to six points in 11 possessions with them both on the floor, both very strong numbers.
The fit isn't as clean as Thompson's was with Moses Kingsley last year because neither Thompson or Gafford poses a threat as a shooter or really even as a scorer. But it's worth testing, especially if the Hogs are going to be low on frontcourt depth early.
He’ll have more options with a full(er) roster, but the quirky lineups were effective Friday.
Stray Thoughts
— Anderson and Barford both said the fatigue was a big issue. Because of the shortened bench, four guys had to play 30-plus minutes, including Beard going 38 (!). Arkansas looked a little lethargic once it extended the lead to 17 early in the second half. Perhaps fatigue was a reason for a lagging halfcourt offense after looking crisper earlier in the game.
— The defense was solid even considering it was against an overmatched opponent. Gafford's presence had a lot to do with that. Will be interesting to see how the minute distribution is between he and Thompson.
— Beard was 8 of 21 in the Red-White game and 3 of 13 on Friday. Neither mean anything in the grand scheme, but he's forced some bad mid-range shots. Also had a post-up that resulted in his shot getting swatted out of bounds Friday. They need him to be a playmaker because he's the only other guard capable of it aside from Barford and Macon.
— C.J. Jones had a relatively quiet night but scored 8 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and hit 2 of 4 3-pointers in 23 minutes. He's confident in his shot. On one possession, he missed a 3 but the ball came straight to Bailey, who turned and pitched it back to Jones. No hesitation, he loaded and swished the next shot. That's a good sign. His defense was fair, which is a big improvement.
— Thompson posted up a lot Friday, which isn't something we're used to seeing him do. Didn't have much success, going 1 of 4 and looking a bit uncomfortable. He's far better off operating at the high post running the offense. Had his typical backdoor assist when he did that. He was a step slow on defense a few times.