FAYETTEVILLE — After gaining confidence in the last week with home wins over Florida and Georgia, Arkansas’ men’s basketball team will look to take it on the road against No. 2 Alabama on Saturday.
The Razorbacks enter the weekend at 19-9 overall and 8-7 in SEC play. The Crimson Tide earlier this week defeated South Carolina on the road in overtime to improve to 14-1 in conference play.
Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN2. Here are a handful of things to keep an eye on in the game:
• Davonte Davis/Brandon Miller, Part II
All eyes will be on this matchup. It pits one of the best perimeter defenders in the SEC against the likely frontrunner for conference player of the year.
For 35 minutes on Jan. 11, the 6-4 Davis owned the battles with the 6-9 Miller. Then the projected lottery pick buried back-to-back threes and the Razorbacks’ hopes in the game’s final minutes. Alabama won 84-69 in Bud Walton Arena.
On Tuesday, Davis did a quality job limiting the effectiveness of Georgia guard Terry Roberts (4 points on 2-of-9 shooting) and held Georgia players to 1 of 3 from the floor in Arkansas’ blowout win. The next night, Miller scored a season-high 41 points during the Crimson Tide’s overtime win at South Carolina.
The freshman made 8 of 12 shots inside the arc, 6 of 13 looks beyond it and finished 7 of 8 at the free-throw line.
He owns the top offensive rating in SEC games, according to KenPom, at 132.0, and is a low-turnover player inside the conference. Davis could make a big difference if he is able to get underneath Miller, the league’s leading scorer, and disrupt his rhythm.
“I think this is a huge test for not just me but the entire team going to Alabama and trying to pull out a win. I’ve got him,” Davis said Thursday on KABZ-FM. “(But) it’s not just me. It’s an entire team effort, because we do switch and do things like that.
“We have to help off and do whatever it takes to not let him score 40-something points like he did (against the Gamecocks).”
Davis added that the key to defending talented players successfully is all about discipline.
“Brandon is a good player, one of the best college players I’ve seen since I’ve been in college,” Davis said. “Me seeing that and then knowing that (I am) going into this game having to guard him, just watching film and things like that and being disciplined and doing whatever on the defensive end to make him uncomfortable.
“I think I’m able to do that. And I’m going to show it, for sure.”
For Arkansas and Eric Musselman, Davis’ impressive defense is not all about steals and blocked shots. Those things are certainly a plus, but it is about energy, effort and eliminating opportunities to score.
Davis’ 11 shots defended in the last 3 games, of which opponents made 5, are a testament to his commitment to the defensive end. Among the Razorbacks’ top eight players, only freshman wing Jordan Walsh has defended fewer shots (7) in that span.
• Bounce back from Black
Arkansas freshman Anthony Black is arguably playing his best basketball of the season as the Razorbacks approach their challenging three-game stretch to close the regular season.
In the last 5 games, he is averaging 15 points, 4.2 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 3 steals. The guard has shown great poise, played with confidence and grown as a defender of late.
In addition to the takeaways, he held opponents to 9 of 26 from the floor in the last 3 games as the nearest defender to a shot.
His play has been vital to the Razorbacks’ 7-2 run in the SEC. And Black appears to be a much different player since Arkansas’ first meeting with Alabama, when he finished with 5 points on 2 of 12 from the floor — 2 of 9 inside the arc — and 4 turnovers.
In the loss, Black fouled out for the first time this season and recorded one assist.
Putting together a solid performance will be difficult given the Crimson Tide own the nation’s No. 5 defense in terms of efficiency and the No. 1 defense in SEC games, according to KenPom. But Black has played well on the road this season, thriving at times in hostile environments.
In 8 true road games, he has averaged 13.9 points, 6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 steals.
An important aspect of the game could be Black utilizing his size when mismatches present themselves. He excels off the dribble moving to his right and shooting over the top of smaller defenders on the interior.
Black owns one of the SEC’s top free-throw rates as a result of drawing 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes played, according to KenPom. The Razorbacks need him to set the table for others and maintain aggressiveness as a scoring threat.
“He’s huge,” freshman guard Nick Smith said Tuesday. “It’s kind of hard to stop (a 6-7 point guard), especially when he gets down in transition. And he also can shoot and score at all three levels.
“It’s kind of hard to stop that.”
• Containing Mark Sears
Before Miller stole the show late in the teams’ first meeting, Sears was the star for the Crimson Tide.
The Ohio transfer controlled the pace of the game as the ball handler in Alabama’s pick-and-roll actions. He was not all that efficient on his two-point attempts — 5 of 12 — but he toyed a bit with the Razorbacks in their coverages and was able to get 10 free throws attempted and create foul issues.
Sears finished with 26 points, also knocking down 2 of 4 threes, during Alabama’s 15-point win. He has not cracked the 20-point mark in a game since.
Considering the Crimson Tide are the SEC’s top three-point shooting team, the Razorbacks will do their best to run them off the line and funnel guards and wings toward Makhi and Makhel Mitchell, who held opponents to a combined 9-of-44 shooting as the nearest defender to a shot the last 3 games.
For those who wind up matched with Sears, going over ball screens and playing sound rearview mirror defense, as Eric Musselman called it Tuesday, will be important. Sears, a lefty, is crafty for a 6-1 guard and understands how to bait bigger players with shot fakes to get to the line.
He draws 4.4 fouls per 40 minutes played, according to KenPom, and is shooting nearly 90% at the line in league games.
• Smith vs. top-tier defense
Arkansas has not faced a defense as talented as Alabama’s since Smith’s return on Feb. 11.
The Crimson Tide are fifth nationally in defensive efficiency because they own the No. 1 two-point defense in the country and the No. 2 three-point defense. In SEC games, Alabama is No. 1 in both of those categories, allowing opponents to hit 23.9% of perimeter jumpers and 40.6% of their interior looks.
Smith, a projected lottery pick, has provided a boost to Arkansas’ offense. In the four games since returning from knee management, the Razorbacks have scored 1.22 points per possession in his 147 offensive possessions, according to HoopLens data.
In that span, Arkansas made 65.5% of its two-point shots and shot an impressive 38.7% from three.
Smith has been exceptional in the last two games generating offense for himself, particularly early in the shot clock, and spacing the floor for the Razorbacks’ other offensive playmakers. If he can continue to do so Saturday, Arkansas stands more than a puncher’s chance to compete with a title contender on the road.
The freshman has played only four minutes on the road this season (Texas A&M), so it will be interesting to see how he handles a raucous crowd as well as a defense that will be determined to limit his productivity.