FAYETTEVILLE — Ahead of each game, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman and his staff prominently display poster-board sized sheets of paper around the practice floor during the team’s final walkthrough.
On those sheets are remarkably detailed notes and tendencies for individual players the Razorbacks are expected to face, and diagrams of often-used offensive sets. They are essential to the game prep.
But Musselman said the keys to Arkansas’ 77-68 victory over West Virginia in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday weren’t written on those cheat sheets.
“We talked about Coach (Bob) Huggins' teams year after year after year after year after year whether he’s at Walsh College or at Akron or Cincinnati, they’re tough,” Musselman said. “He doesn’t recruit guys who aren’t tough. What did we talk about the last two days? Drawing free throws and rebounding.
“If we didn’t rebound, we weren’t going to win — flat out. (The scouting report pages) really didn’t matter tonight. It was like, ‘You better go rebound or you’re not winning the game.’ I thought (on the) defensive boards we were phenomenal.”
More from WholeHogSports: Full coverage of Arkansas' win over West Virginia
In grabbing their sixth consecutive win, the Razorbacks finished with sizable advantages in areas that indicated they were the tougher team. Arkansas out-rebounded the Mountaineers 44-26, including 33-19 on the defensive glass, and outscored West Virginia 36-26 in the paint.
The Mountaineers' seven offensive rebounds were the fewest Arkansas allowed in a game since its win over Missouri (6) on Jan 12 that kicked off its winning streak. According to KenPom data, the Mountaineers posted their lowest offensive rebound rate (17.5%) of the season.
Unsurprisingly, sophomore forward Jaylin Williams led the Razorbacks’ rebounding charge. He finished with 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds — 14 defensive. StatBroadcast also credited him with 16 defensive stops.
Williams, who drew 9 fouls, now holds the No. 13 defensive rebound percentage in the country, per KenPom, at 28.7%.
"Phenomenal,” Musselman said. “Fourteen defensive rebounds against a really physical program that's known for its rebounding. He was phenomenal on the glass tonight.
“He probably took a career high in field goals attempted, too. But he was awesome on the defensive backboards."
Pittsburgh transfer Au’Diese Toney was perhaps the player of the game for Arkansas. The 6-6 wing whose activity away from the basketball and on the backboards is so critical to the Razorbacks, scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed 7 rebounds.
His five defensive rebounds were second only to Williams. And Musselman also credited Toney for his efforts defending West Virginia leading scorers Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil to poor shooting games.
They combined for 22 points on 7 of 22 shooting, including 3 of 11 on three-point attempts.
Saturday marked the sixth consecutive game in which Arkansas held its opponent under 50% on two-point attempts. In the Razorbacks’ five losses, opposing teams collectively shot 54.8% inside the arc.
“We knew defending would be a big thing for us and we knew we had to start defending if we wanted to win games,” Williams said. “We've been prioritizing that. I feel like everybody has been locking in on defense trying to get stops, trying to get kills on defense.”
Arkansas is allowing opponents to grab only 22.8% of their missed shots, according to KenPom. That figure ranks 17th nationally.
“We talked a lot about West Virginia’s rebounding,” Musselman said. “We dominated the backboards tonight. I think from a physical standpoint we did an incredible job on the glass as well as being pretty physical defensively.”