FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas hasn't played TCU in men's basketball since the Razorbacks left the Southwest Conference for the SEC after the 1990-91 season, but UA Coach Eric Musselman and senior guard Jimmy Whitt have faced the Horned Frogs.
Whitt played TCU twice when he was at SMU, where he transferred from Arkansas after his freshman season before returning as a graduate transfer.
The Horned Frogs beat Whitt's Mustangs 94-83 in Fort Worth during the 2017-18 season and 67-59 in Dallas last season.
Whitt scored 12 points in the first meeting -- going 5 of 5 from the field and 2 of 2 on free throws -- when he played just 16 minutes before fouling out. Last season, Whitt had 9 points and 6 rebounds in 37 minutes against TCU.
"I've lost to them already," Whitt said. "So that's a little extra motivation for me personally."
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Musselman was Nevada's coach when the Horned Frogs beat the Wolf Pack 84-80 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles during the 2017-18 season.
"They execute really well offensively," Musselman said. "They do a good job of getting their best players the ball and their best players their shots."
Jamie Dixon is in his fourth season at TCU's coach.
"He does as good a job as anybody in the country coaching," Musselman said.
Joe's struggles
Arkansas sophomore guard Isaiah Joe is averaging 16.8 points, but in the past three games against Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Mississippi State, he's 10 of 39 from the field, including 8 of 30 on three-pointers.
"I think every baseball player goes through a hitting slump and pitchers go through [a stretch] where they might not throw strikes," said Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman, who often uses baseball analogies. "It's not just one guy. It's everybody in basketball.
"Whether it's Steph Curry or whoever, you're always going to have ebbs and flows throughout a season. [Joe] has done a good job, too, fighting through fatigue and a little injury and such."
Joe scored 34 points at Ole Miss prior to his three-game lull.
Doing the wave
A photo of Dave Van Horn, Arkansas' baseball coach, appearing to wave goodbye from the Walton Arena stands to John Calipari after the Kentucky coach was ejected in last Saturday's game was posted on Twitter.
"I was just stretching my arm," Van Horn said with a smile Friday when asked about the photo. "It was a little sore."
Van Horn said he could tell what Calipari said to the officials.
"I read his lips, and I knew everything he said, and it wasn't nice," Van Horn said. "Basically, in my opinion, he was trying to get thrown out of the game and fire his team up, and it worked."
Kentucky won 73-66 after Arkansas took a 47-44 lead when Mason Jones hit 3 of 4 free throws resulting from the two technical fouls called on Calipari.
3-point matchup
Arkansas, which leads the nation in three-point defense at 23.9% (75 of 314), figures to be challenged from the perimeter by TCU. The Horned Frogs are averaging 9.4 three-point baskets made per game to lead the Big 12, with 6-6 senior Desmond Bane hitting 44.1% (52 of 118).
"They're really good from the three-point line, and we're really good at defending the three-point line, so something has to give within the game," Razorbacks senior guard Jimmy Whitt said. "Either we're going to make them shoot a bad percentage, or they're going to shoot a good percentage on us.
"It's one of those things where coming into the game both teams know what they do well, and we're going to try to make that a theme of the night guarding the three-point line. They're probably going to try to make it a theme of the night being able to knock down three-point shots."
Dixon knows
TCU's Jamie Dixon will face Arkansas as a head coach for the first time today, but he has previous experience playing the Razorbacks as a player with the Horned Frogs and assistant for Ben Howland at Northern Arizona.
Dixon helped TCU go 5-3 against Arkansas during his playing career from the 1983-84 through 1986-87 seasons while averaging 10.3 points -- with highs of 24 and 21 as a junior -- according to box scores posted on Hogstats.com.
As a player, Dixon faced the Razorbacks in Barnhill Arena. He was in Walton Arena as a Northern Arizona assistant coach when the Razorbacks beat the Lumberjacks 101-75 in the NIT on March 12, 1997.
Grayer visited
TCU starting guard Jaire Grayer, a 6-5 graduate transfer from George Mason, took a recruiting visit to Arkansas last summer. He's the son of Jeff Grayer, who was an All-American at Iowa State and played in the NBA, where he faced Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman.
Sports on 01/25/2020