FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas assistant coach Gus Argenal offered a blunt, honest assessment Thursday when asked about the Razorbacks matching up against Baylor’s offense on Saturday in Waco, Texas.
The 17th-ranked Bears, winners of 5 straight Big 12 games since a 0-3 start in the league, will enter one of the marquee Big 12/SEC Challenge games with the nation’s No. 2 offense in terms of efficiency, according to KenPom data. They are scoring 119.6 points per 100 possessions this season.
And inside a conference many consider the best in the sport, Baylor’s offensive efficiency rating is 114.3.
“Our hands are going to be full,” Argenal said.
Baylor coach Scott Drew, though, may have similar thoughts as he prepares his group to face an Arkansas defense that ranks 13th nationally in efficiency. The Razorbacks have allowed 91.8 points per 100 possessions through 20 games.
And they are coming off a 20-point victory Tuesday in which they allowed 40 points to LSU.
It is sure to make for an interesting game within the game.
“It’s a huge opportunity. The big thing, obviously, is they’re unbelievable on offense right now,” Argenal said. “They shoot the three as good as any team we’ll play. They get to the free-throw line as good as any team we’ll play. They offensive rebound as good as any team. Those are three areas that we’ve got to be dialed into.
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“Teams that have shot the three really well have hurt us a little bit this year, so we can’t allow them to get two or three off in a row. We have to make them play inside the arc as much as possible, which is really hard to do, because they run great action. You can’t fall asleep off the ball.”
Baylor’s offensive attack is led by guards Keyonte George, Adam Flagler and LJ Cryer, who are averaging 16.9, 16.1 and 14.2 points per game, respectively. George, a freshman, has put up 18.9 points per outing in conference play.
Each player is averaging at least 2.4 made three-pointers per game on better than six attempts. Cryer led the Bears with 5 threes during Monday’s 75-69 home win over Kansas.
The challenge for Arkansas — and all of Baylor’s opponents — is that the Bears are able to manufacture perimeter jumpers in a variety of ways. The Jayhawks attempted to combat Baylor’s actions by switching.
According to Jordan Sperber of HoopVision, the Bears took 16 field goal attempts in isolation situations. They netted 17 points through high-level shot creation from their guards.
“I thought the thing that stood out the most from their last game was their ability to shoot over defenders, somebody standing in front of them, and not just catch-and-shoot shots — off the bounce from three,” Argenal said. “It’s going to be a game where you can’t just have one defender guarding this game. It’s going to have to be all of our perimeter players.
“And we’re going to have to have two other guys helping on pin-downs, baseline screens, pick-and-roll action. We’re going to have to be dialed in.”
Flagler and 6-10 forward Flo Thamba faced the Razorbacks in the programs’ last meeting in the Elite Eight in 2021, which Baylor won 81-72 in Indianapolis. Flagler finished with 10 points, 3 assists and 4 steals off the bench, and Thamba pitched in 4 points and 4 rebounds.
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Thamba is the likely matchup for Arkansas forward Makhi Mitchell, who had 10 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks against LSU on Tuesday. And Saturday’s game provides Mitchell and the Razorbacks a chance to prove themselves as a team and on the defensive end.
Mitchell's 29 blocks are fifth most in the SEC, and he ranks sixth in league-only games with a 6.9% block rate, per KenPom.
“We think of every game like that, because we can get better in all aspects of the game,” Mitchell said. “I definitely think this game is big and we’re going to come out as confident as any other team that has played at Baylor. We’re not going to back down.
“We obviously have tremendous guards of our own and bigs of our own, so we’re pretty confident going into the game.”
Dating to 2014, Arkansas is 4-4 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, including 0-4 on the road.
Coming off their best defensive performance of the season against LSU, the Razorbacks will need a similar effort to add a signature win to their postseason resume. Baylor is 9-2 at home this season, and Arkansas is in search of its first true road win.
“My parents went to Baylor, so that just adds a little bit of edge to me on the game,” said Arkansas guard Anthony Black, who is from Duncanville, Texas. “It'll be fun to be back in the home state.
“Hopefully we'll do better than we did last time when we were in the home state.”