Hoop Hogs host upsetminded Bulldogs
FAYETTEVILLE Gardner-webb may sound like a law firm but on the basketball court it almost upset traditional power UNLV.
In Las Vegas Wednesday night the Gardner-webb University Bulldogs of
Boiling Springs, North Carolina, and the Big South Conference only trailed
UNLV 60-58 with 48 seconds left. The Bulldogs missed two free throws then had to foul as UNLV escaped 64-58.
Gardner-webb, nearly striking it rich in Vegas, resonates in Arkansas because the 0-1 Bulldogs visit the 1-0 Razorbacks this afternoon. Tipoff is 2 p.m. at Walton Arena on the Razorbacks Radio Network and Internet video available on SEC Network Plus.
Trailing lower division East Central Oklahoma University by 14 with 11:46 left of an exhibition game Arkansas won only 77-74, then last Tuesday trailing Mercer University down eight at half before Arkansas second-half surged winning 74-61 its official season-opener Tuesday night at Walton, Coach Eric Musselman’s Razorbacks already learned this young season their No. 16 national ranking seems more a target than an intimidator.
Musselman expects Coach Tim Craft’s Bulldogs firing into Walton with 3-point gunners blazing like ECU and Mercer did.
“We’re going to have to defend the three, obviously,” Musselman said. “Their guards can really score the ball.”
In particular Musselman cited G-W guards D’maurian Williams, Lance Terry and Jordan Sears.
UNLV most especially would cite Williams and Terry. D’maurian Williams double-doubled 21 points and 10 rebounds while Terry scored 13 on the Runnin’ Rebels in Las Vegas.
G-W Forward Zion Williams grabbed 10 boards while 6-9 forward Kareem
Reid blocked two shots. “They have perimeter guys that are 3-ball shooters,” Musselman said. “Their interior guys are not 3-point shooters like we saw with Mercer, but their interior guys are physical around the rim and defensively, more shot-blocking than what we saw with Mercer.”
In this first week young season that Musselman said already has seen upsets like Navy over Virginia, UC-SAN Diego over the Pac 12’s University of California and near upsets like Hofstra at Houston and now Gardnerwebb at UNLV, the Hogs certainly have to be on guard today.
Musselman said their so-far up and down 3-point defense, very up in the exhibition game victory over last
March NCAA Tournament team North Texas, and rebounding, very up 35-22 over Mercer, must ride the upside of their so far roller-coaster. But it’s the three-game flatline of assiststurnover ratio, especially digging Arkansas’ first-half holes in the exhibition against ECU and Tuesday against Mercer, that most concerns Arkansas’ coach.
“The one thing we haven’t solved is assist-turnover
ratio,” Musselman said. “That has to improve because right now it hasn’t.”
The two exhibition assiststurnover ratios read 9-10 and 10-14 and was 13-15 against Mercer.
Musselman of course loved combo guards JD Notae and Chris Lykes scoring 30 and 16 points against Mercer, and combo guard Devo Davis’ defense against Mercer Allsouthern Conference guard Neftali Alvarez, but noted
it was 6-10 center Jaylin Williams’ five assists most assisting Arkansas’ secondhalf resurgence.
“I guess he’s now considered a point forward,” Musselman said. “If you clipped his minutes that he had the ball in his hands it probably was at the lowest end of the team, yet he led us in assists. Other guys had the ball in their hands a lot and didn’t come close to his amount of assists. So
maybe we change up some of our sets so that he can be a little bit more of a distributor because he’s a willing passer and (has) great vision.”
Expect Craft to have his Bulldogs concerned with Notae’s scoring, Jaylin Williams’ passing and the all-round play of Au’diese Toney. Via University of Pittsburgh graduate transfer forward Toney debuted with an 18-point/11-rebound double-double against Mercer.