Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Smooth sailing
Arkansas takes care of business from tip against Lipscomb.
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas men’s basketball team put Lipscomb away early Saturday at Walton Arena.
Arkansas coasted to an 86-50 victory after jumping out to a 22-2 lead less than five minutes into the game. Freshman guard Moses Moody led the Razorbacks (4-0) with 18 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists in 24 minutes.
“I thought we were really locked into the game plan,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “I thought the guys took a really, really mature approach.
“When you win a game, you win a second game, you win a third game, you always worry about, ‘Is your team coming to the building with great respect for the opponent? With great respect for the game?’ ”
The Razorbacks played with plenty of respect for Lipscomb, which was picked to win the Atlantic Sun Conference by the coaches and media in preseason polls.
“Lipscomb’s a team that we think and hope will win their conference,” Musselman said. “So you hope that this game means something down the road.”
The Bisons (1-3) have played every game without three of their top eight players — starting junior point guard KJ Johnson, and freshman reserve guards Tommy Murr and Will Pruitt — because of contact tracing related to the coronavirus.
But Lipscomb’s first three games had been close with a 76-73 victory over Lamar, a 68-66 loss at Tulane and a 6755 loss at Cincinnati in which the Bisons led by nine points with 11 minutes to play.
“We were just going out there trying to execute the game plan,” said Arkansas senior forward Justin Smith, who had 9 points and 6 rebounds in 18 minutes. “Our coaches prepared us really, really well, and we were ready.
“We had watched that Cincinnati game on film, and we were aware of what they like to do and we were able to exploit some of their defensive tendencies.”
Arkansas shot 50% (33 of 66) from the field and held Lipscomb — which came into the game shooting 47.9% — to 25.4% (15 of 59).
“I thought we really, really defended like we wanted to,” Musselman said. “I thought from a discipline standpoint, we played flawless disciplined defense.”
Eleven Razorbacks — all of the available scholarship players — scored at least four points.
“It’s always a good feeling to see everybody get in and get some shots, get some points,” Smith said. “It makes everybody feel good. As we move forward in the season, depending on lineups, people are willing and able to come in and get a basket right away to help us if we need it.”
Nine Razorbacks had at least one of the team’s 17 assists.
“Everybody was playing unselfish, playing together, and keeping the ball moving and switching sides,” Moody said. “We got to the third side multiple times, and we’ve been going over that in practice. It’s good that was able to translate to the game.”
Connor Vanover, a 7-3 sophomore, hit back-to-back three-pointers for an 8-0 Arkansas lead.
The Razorbacks got three consecutive three-point baskets — by Moody, Desi Sills and Moody again — to go ahead 17-2 and cause Lipscomb Coach Lennie Acuff to call a timeout with 15:42 left in the half rather than wait for the first media timeout.
Arkansas led 46-24 at halftime. The Razorbacks largest lead was 42 points in the second half.
“I’d say that definitely this was a very good showing,” Smith said. “We have a lot of new faces getting used to each other, and now that we’re a couple games in we’re settling into our groove and really getting started figuring each other out.”
Arkansas outscored Lipscomb 41-24 in bench points, led by 12 from junior guard JD Notae and 10 from senior forward Vance Jackson. Freshman guard Khalen Robinson added five points and four assists.
Vanover had 6 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots while playing 15 minutes. Freshman forward Jaylin Williams had six points and seven rebounds.
Sills, a junior guard, had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Senior guard Jalen Tate had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists.
Junior forward Ethan Henderson had four points, and freshman guard Davonte Davis had four points.
“I thought everyone who checked in did a good job,” Musselman said.
Musselman sets a goal of the team having 200 passes per game, and he said they had 237 against Lipscomb.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had a team that made 237 passes in a game,” Musselman said. “So we had great ball movement. We shared the ball.”
The Bisons, led by 6-8 center Ahsan Asadullah’s 10 points, shot 7 of 29 on at the rim.
Greg Jones and Romeao Ferguson — Lipscomb’s starting guards who came into the game averaging a combined 29 points — were held to six points. Jones shot 1 of 6 and Ferguson 0 of 5 from the field.
Lipscomb wanted to play the game at a slower pace than Arkansas forced.
“They’re a really good team given the way that had they played,” Moody said. “They try to slow it down and really try to execute their sets and their plays.
“The fact we were able to get out to a lead early made them not be able to slow down and made them have to speed their game up. So that definitely helped us.”