SPORTS: Crazy Eights: Hogs find way to strong start in 2020
FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas basketball team has started this season 8 for 8 for 8.
That’s 8 games scheduled, 8 games played and 8 games won.
With the coronavirus pandemic forcing numerous teams to cancel or postpone games, what the Razorbacks have done is no small achievement. Just getting in games is a victory.
But playing and winning them all so far? That really is the definition of a win-win during these uncertain times.
“We’re ecstatic,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said. “That was my No. 1 priority all the way back in September — ‘We have got to figure out a way to play all eight games.’
“We didn’t want to be one of those teams that only got to five or six games before conference play. The NCAA set the max you can play is 27, so we’re already down four games from a normal
year.”
All seven of Arkansas’ non- conference home games on the revamped schedule — after the NCAA announced a limit of 27 regular-season games with the start date pushed back to Nov. 25 — have been played against the opponents and on the date originally announced.
The one change was the result of Tulsa canceling its Dec.
8 home game against the Razorbacks because the Golden Hurricane was unable to have enough players available due to positive tests for COVID-19 and subsequent contact tracing.
After Arkansas’ staff learned late on Dec. 5 after beating Lipscomb 86-50 that Tulsa wouldn’t be able to play, Anthony Ruta — the Razorbacks’ director of basketball operations — in less than
48 hours added a home game against Southern for Dec. 9.
“Ruta has had so many contingency plans ready throughout this thing,” Musselman said. “He did a great job of talking to the other coaches and scheduling teams that could bus here and were able to be tested before we played them.”
Arkansas, which beat Southern 79-44, beat Abilene Christian 85-72 on Tuesday in the Razorbacks’ final game before a short Christmas break. The team resumed practice on Saturday.
“Even all the way up through [Tuesday] morning if the game against Abilene Christian would have gotten canceled — not from our end, but from the other end — we already had games that we would have been trying to play on Wednesday,” Musselman said. “We just really, really wanted to play the games.
“I think for some programs that might not be as important, or to some coaches. But we wanted to reward our players and get them as much game competition as we possibly could. Because that’s why you practice, is to play the games.”
The Ivy League isn’t playing any games this season and the Patriot League has postponed the start of its season until January with conference games only.
Going into this weekend, there were 24 NCAA Division I teams that had played two or fewer games. Alabama State, Fordham, Maryland- Eastern Shore and Merrimack have yet to play. DePaul and California State- Fullerton each have played one game.
Among SEC teams, South Carolina has played the fewest games with three. The Gamecocks ( 1-2)) had to postpone their SEC opener against Kentucky scheduled for Tuesday night because they didn’t have enough available players.
Musselman missed the Abilene Christian game because he was quarantining for contact tracing purposes after an Arkansas staff member tested positive for COVID-19, but he said before the season started the Razorbacks would have enough players available for each game because so many already had the virus.
“My big thing was that these players are working just as hard as they always do,” Musselman said. “They’re actually being more dedicated off the floor than they’ve ever been in their lives. More disciplined. We’ve got to reward them.
“If they’re going to practice every day, we have to get these games in.”
Arkansas is undefeated against a schedule of mid-major teams — most picked to finish first or second in their conferences — and has won every game by at least 11 points going into its SEC opener at Auburn
(6-2) on Wednesday night. “First of all, the number one thing was, ‘How did we get the eight games in?’ So we checked that box,” Musselman said. “Then you want to win every game. We checked that box.”
Eight Razorbacks — including seven newcomers — have played in all eight games and five have led the team in scoring at least once.
Freshman guard Moses Moody is averaging 16.9 points and 5.6 rebounds. Junior guard JD Notae is averaging 14.3 points and 3.5 rebounds off the bench.
Junior guard Desi Sills — the Razorbacks’ lone returnee to play in every game — is averaging 13.0 points and 3.9 rebounds.
Forward Justin Smith and guard Jalen Tate, both senior graduate transfers, have started every game along with Moody and Sills. Smith is averaging 12.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. Tate is averaging 9.9 points, 5.3 assist and 4.6 rebounds.
Sophomore center Connor Vanover, who has started the last seven games, is averaging
8.9 points, 8.1 rebounds and 2.9 blocked shots.
Forward Vance Jackson, another senior graduate transfer, and freshman guard Khalen “KK” Robinson have played in all eight games. Freshman guard Davonte “Devo” Davis and freshman forward Jaylin Williams have played in six games.
“Have we formed some roles and rotations? Yes,” Musselman said. “Do we still want to tinker and adjust those rotations? Yes.
“But we were able to come up with somewhat of a foundation of what it looks like going into Auburn.”
The Razorbacks are averaging 90.0 points and holding opponents to 61.6. They also:
— are shooting 46.9% from the field, including 34.9% on
3-pointers, and 72.8% on free throws.
— have a plus-13.3 rebounding margin and plus-2.1 turnover margin.
— are at 36.2 on field goal defense, including 27.5% on
3- pointers, and averaging 6.4 blocked shots.
“Have we kind of created somewhat of a style and an identity, both offensively and defensively?” Musselman said. “I think you can check that box.
“But now we know we’re going to play better rebounding teams, so how do we adjust to that? We know we’re going to play against better length.
“Then we have some areas where we need to improve that are clearly identifiable. We’ve got to finish better at the rim. We’ve missed way too many layups.”
Musselman said the Razorbacks also must play better transition defense.
“The first part of having a good transition defense is having the ability to draw fouls and get to the free throw line,” he said. “It also involves not taking quick, ill- advised threes that lead to long rebounds. Our shot selection has got to drastically improve.
“I think we can move the ball a little bit more than we have at times.”
Musselman also is looking for more consistency from some players.
“I think at times we’ve had a few players have some empty minutes,” he said. “Meaning that they could have played better in the minutes that they were given, or could have played a little bit harder.
“As a staff we’ve got to identify when a guy is kind of out there and maybe playing empty minutes and figure out how we insert somebody else in there
“I think what you want to do every time you play is learn a little bit more about your team so you can continue to correct and teach and improve.”