FAYETTEVILLE — Eric Musselman has had to tinker with different lineups and substitution patterns since power forward Justin Smith went out with an ankle injury on Dec. 30.
In Saturday’s 99-69 rout of Georgia at Walton Arena, the University of Arkansas coach felt he was pushing the right buttons in the third game without Smith.
New starters Vance Jackson and Davonte Davis combined for 35 points on 14-of-24 shooting, and the Razorbacks showed consistency on both ends of the floor with their rotations against the Bulldogs.
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“I knew when Justin was out that we were going to go through an adjustment period,” Musselman said. “Hopefully it was those two games, and now we’ve figured out who we are moving forward.
“I don’t know if that’s the case. I’ll probably tell you after we play LSU and Bama if we’ve figured it out, but that’s at least how I felt from a rotation standpoint tonight. I felt much more comfortable with our rotation.”
Davis scored 10 of the Razorbacks’ first 16 points and finished with 20 points, and Jackson made his first four three-point tries en route to 15 points.
While he liked the rotations and how the Hogs filled Smith’s 30 minutes per game, the starting lineup is still subject to change, Musselman said.
“We’ve always been a team that will adjust to who we play,” he said. “We’re very oriented to try to take things away from other people.
“Let’s put it this way: I’m not married to he lineup right now. I want to evaluate LSU, see who their go-to guys are.… I know who they are, but I’ve got to figure out how we want to match up.”
Arkansas freshman Jaylin Williams said Smith’s productivity is missed.
“Justin is a big player for us,” Williams said. “He does a lot of the things that don’t go on stat sheet and he does a lot of things that goes on the stat sheet. Really, just a lot of the team talked and we know we just have to step up and do whatever we can to get the W.”
Three spree
Arkansas had its best three-point shooting game of the season, nailing 12 of 21 (57.1%) from beyond the arc. The Razorbacks’ previous high had been 50% (20 of 40) in the season-opening 142-62 rout of Mississippi Valley State.
Vance Jackson led the way with 4 of 5 three-point shooting, while JD Notae went 3 of 4. Desi Sills, Jalen Tate and Davonte Davis each made 1 of 2 beyond the arc, and Moses Moody (2 of 6) was the only Razorback to shoot less than 50% from that range.
Big hand
The Razorbacks notched 24 assists on 36 made baskets, or two thirds of every shot that went down. As a comparison, Arkansas had 20 assists combined in their last two games, a home loss to Missouri with 7 assists and a road loss at Tennessee with 13.
“We had 100 on-the-nose passes at halftime,” Coach Eric Musselman said, noting that his son, Michael, put it up on the board after charting it. “The ball movement was great in the first half and it got better in the second half.”
Point guard Jalen Tate led the way with 10 assists, while Davonte Davis added six. The quartet of Vance Jackson, Moses Moody, Desi Sills and Jaylin Williams had two assists each.
Musselman said the Razorbacks focused on “pitch-aheads” and advance passes, even after Georgia’s made baskets, to push the tempo.
Tate doubles
Arkansas guard Jalen Tate posted his team-leading second double-double with 15 points and 10 assists.
The senior is one of an SEC-high four Razorbacks who have posted double-doubles, along with Moses Moody, Desi Sills and Justin Smith.
“The 15 and 10, those numbers are hard to get in a 40-minute college game,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said.
“He sets the tone for the younger guys and also the older guys,” Razorback guard Davonte Davis said. “Everybody looks to him and he’s the voice of the team. I’m not surprised he had a double-double.”
Mouth punch
Georgia Coach Tom Crean was asked if his team’s performance was one in which you just burn the film.
“No, you don’t do that, you never do that,” Crean said. “We were right there in the first half, we were playing very good ball in the first half. They punched us in the mouth early in the second half, and we didn’t respond to it.
“We had nobody respond to it, and nobody took the bull by the horns so to speak to rally the team. But again, we did not get back defensively as well and we started to try and take things into our own hands offensively.”
Blowout news
The Razorbacks’ 30-point margin of victory was their largest in a conference game since an 84-48 blowout of Vanderbilt on March 6, 2019.
Arkansas led by as many as 35 points, by an 88-53 margin at the 6:00 mark on a Davonte Davis layup following a Jalen Tate steal.
The 36-point win in Nashville featured 52.6% shooting (30 of 57), 11 of 18 from three-point range (61.1%), with Isaiah Joe, Mason Jones and Desi Sills combining for 10 of 13 three-point shooting.
Stopping two
The Arkansas game plan was to keep Georgia guards Sahvir Wheeler and Justin Kier from whipping them with blow-bys and controlling the game on offense.
In that regard, the Razorbacks succeeded by largely leaving freshman Davonte Davis on the jet-quick Wheeler and Jalen Tate on Kier.
Wheeler made 6 of 14 shots and had 5 assists and 14 points, but also committed 5 turnovers. Kier, who made six three-pointers at LSU on Wednesday, went 1 of 5 from the field and 0 of 2 from three-point range while contributing 6 points and 2 assists with 4 turnovers.
KK out
Arkansas guard Khalen “KK” Robinson is expected to need surgery on his foot after the freshman underwent an MRI on Friday, sources told the Democrat-Gazette on Saturday.
Coach Eric Musselman said Robinson told the staff at halftime on Wednesday in Knoxville, Tenn., that his foot was hurting and it had been bothering him since the Red-White game in preseason.
Musselman did not mention impending surgery for Robinson during his postgame remarks.
“We’ll just wait for the doctors to make it formal, what’s going to be the next step,” Musselman said, adding the Razorbacks would make an announcement then.
Robinson would be the third Razorback to undergo surgery this year, following Abayomi Iyiola and Justin Smith.
Camara v. Connor
Arkansas’ 7-3 center Connor Vanover had a short run, starting both halves but winding up with no shots taken, 2 rebounds and 1 turnover in 3 minutes played.
Coach Eric Musselman said it was due to a matchup issue.
Vanover’s man, 6-8 forward Toumani Camara, gave Georgia a 6-0 lead with a pair of three-pointers in the earliest stages of the game and scored his team’s first eight points. To open the second half he drove on Vanover and scored a layup.
Starting out
The Razorbacks used a first-time starting lineup, with guards Davonte Davis, Moses Moody and Jalen Tate, and forwards Vance Jackson and Connor Vanover.
Moody and Tate have started all 12 games while Vanover has started the last 11. Davis and Jackson made their second starts.
Freshman Jaylin Williams was the sixth man, checking in for Vanover at the 17:49 mark. Desi Sills, who had started the first 11 games, came in at 15:36.
Series stats
Arkansas improved its lead in the all-time series against Georgia to 24-16, with all the games being played since the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1991-92. The record includes as 12-3 mark in home games. Georgia hasn’t won at Walton Arena since a 60-59 final on March 2, 2011.
Tip-ins
• Per HogStats.com, the Razorbacks have won 92 consecutive games when scoring 99-plus points, dating to a 112-105 loss to UNLV in the famed Nos. 1 vs. 2 matchup at Barnhill Arena on Feb. 10, 1991.
• Vance Jackson cost the Razorbacks a point on a made free throw by Moses Moody in the first half due to a lane violation.
• Arkansas fans were clamoring for a shot at hitting the 100-point mark in the closing seconds after the Razorbacks were at 94 points with 3:14 remaining. However, JD Notae dribbled out the clock after Georgia scored with 18 seconds remaining.