FAYETTEVILLE — The first question posed to Tulsa coach Frank Haith in his press conference following the Golden Hurricane’s 98-79 loss at Arkansas, unsurprisingly, was in regards to Razorbacks guard Mason Jones.
A junior now averaging better than 19 points per game in his second season at Arkansas, Jones scored a career-high 41 points, the second most by a Razorbacks player in Bud Walton Arena.
But before Haith provided a bit of insight into what made Jones effective, he mentioned sophomore guard Isaiah Joe, currently No. 20 on The Athletic's Sam Vecenie's 2020 NBA Draft Big Board.
While Joe’s performance was understandably overshadowed by Jones, Arkansas’ sharpshooter somewhat quietly finished with 20 points, burning Tulsa from the perimeter on several occasions, and turned in one of his top all-around games of the season.
“Isaiah Joe was outstanding," Haith said. “And so was Mason. Those two guys, we couldn’t stop them.”
Joe’s third 20-plus point outing lifted his December average to 18 points per game. He averaged 15.7 per game in seven November outings, which included a season-high 33 points against Texas Southern, 24 in the season opener against Rice, and single-digit outputs versus Montana and South Dakota in which he was a combined 3 of 15 from 3-point range.
Although Joe has not shot at the same clip he did as a freshman when he connected on 41.4 percent of his long-range attempts, he appears to be heating up. In three December games, Joe is 12 of 34 (35.3 percent) from distance, and against Western Kentucky and Tulsa alone that figure jumps to nearly 38 percent, a great mark for a high-volume 3-point shooter.
In the loss to the Hilltoppers, Joe finished 5 of 14 beyond the arc, tying a career-high for attempts in a game. The five makes were his most in a game since hitting six against Texas Southern in mid-November as well.
And in the win over Tulsa, he finished 4 of 10 from deep and knocked down 3 of 4 in the opening minutes. His four triples also came from four different areas of the floor: left wing, top of the key, right wing and right corner.
The right-corner 3, remarkably, was his first of the season after beginning 0 of 14. It was his first make from that spot on the floor since the Razorbacks’ loss to Florida in the SEC Tournament on March 14. Joe, too, hit a season-high four catch-and-shoot 3s on eight attempts.
Thanks to foul trouble and a slightly tweaked ankle, Joe played a season-low 28 minutes against Tulsa. It is only the second time this season he has played less than 35 minutes, and Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said it is likely the least Joe will play all season.
Joe impacts the game for the Razorbacks offensively despite being gassed at times, the coach noted.
"Like, a tired Isaiah Joe opens up shots for other people," Musselman said. "Basically what Isaiah does is he turns the game into a 4-on-4 game, because no one leaves him. Guys are face-guarding him, so even when he’s tired he helps everybody else get easier looks.
"So I’m probably not going to rest him."
On top of a solid afternoon scoring the ball, Joe recorded a block for the second straight game, and three steals. His three takeaways immediately led to eight points - Joe 3-pointer, Jones layup, Desi Sills 3-pointer - and the block came on the Tulsa possession following his first 3 of the game.
Tulsa's offense scored at a 1.40 PPP rate over 15 possessions in which Joe was not in the lineup, according to HoopLens analytics.
"I’ve stated over and over," Musselman said, "like with Isaiah, his defense, his rebounding, his passing, all those things have been great when shots haven’t been falling. Isaiah is a phenomenal defender, a really underrated defender."