Scouting Report: Arkansas Razorbacks

Despite a run of injuries, the Kentucky Wildcats survived a stretch of seven straight Quad 1 games to begin Southeastern Conference play with a 4-3 record. There are no breaks in league play, but, on paper, the Arkansas Razorbacks represent one of the easier contests. Again, easier is relative, but this is a rare Quad 2 game for the ‘Cats. In some ways though that makes the outcome even more meaningful because this loss would actually be damaging to Kentucky’s resume. However, while this is just another game on the hardwood, it is all of the other storylines that make this one of the biggest games of the college basketball season.

Coach John Calipari spent 15 seasons in Lexington. He won the 2012 National Championship, finished as the National Runner-Up in 2014, and went to four total Final Fours. His run from 2010-2019 will remain one of the greatest sustained periods of success that we have seen in the modern era. However, for as good as those first 10 years were (11 counting the season cut short due to Coronavirus concerns), the final four were not up to Big Blue Nation’s standards. After missing the tournament in 2021, first round losses to Saint Peter’s and Oakland, and just one postseason win in four seasons, Coach Calipari was more or less run out of Lexington. His decision to land in Fayetteville and coach the SEC rival Arkansas Razorbacks immediately signaled in imminent return to Rupp Arena. That day has now come.

The honeymoon phase with Coach Mark Pope may have came and went, but his approval rating in Lexington is still as close to 100% as it can be as the Wildcats’ head coach. However, things haven’t gone as smoothly for Coach Calipari at his new home. The Razorbacks started SEC play 0-5 and are now 12-8 overall, 1-6 in the league. If Selection Sunday was this weekend they would not be in the field of 68. Injuries have certainly played a role in their struggles, most notably superstar freshman Boogie Fland getting shut down recently, but the truth remains that this team has not gelled as planned. Coach Calipari will have his team ready to play though. This game will mean a lot to himself, his staff, the three former Kentucky players and two former signees that will be participating.

As always, we have prepared a full, in-depth scouting report for Kentucky’s next opponent. We will take a deep dive into the Razorbacks’ personnel, break down their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game for the ‘Cats. Let’s dive in and get to know more about the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Arkansas Razorbacks Personnel

Starters

#21 D.J. Wagner: 6’4″ 195 lbs, Sophomore Guard

10.2 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.8 apg

Primary ball handler. Better and more aggressive as a driver than as a shooter. He is just as comfortable, if not more so, going left as he is going right. Really likes to finish with his left. He is more likely to shoot a floater when going right. Have to play him as straight up as possible. Capable shooter. Be there to give a hard contest to the initial catch-and-shoot 3’s and then bounce back to guard against the drives. Stay between him and the basket. Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. We are going UNDER in order to stay between him and the basket. Do not bail him out by fouling. He is not a very good finisher with someone between him and the basket. You can bring some help off of non-shooters, but don’t foul. Make him finish non-paint, contested 2’s. No straight line drives.

#1 Johnell Davis: 6’4″ 210 lbs, Fifth Year Guard

8.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.4 apg

Very capable offensive player. Willing shooter. 92 of 145 shots have been 3’s. He is shooting just 31.5% this season, but made 58 3’s at a 41.4% clip at Florida Atlantic last season. Treat him as a shooter. No catch-and-shoot 3’s! Be tight enough to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Get OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. CHASE off of downscreens and get OVER the flares. We are going OVER and CHASING in order to take him away from 3. Once you take away the initial catch-and-shoot 3’s you can bounce back and guard against the right hand drives. No straight line, right hand drives! Come look to take it off of him when he is driving it right. 25 assists, 31 turnovers. No catch-and-shoot 3’s. No straight line, right hand drives.

#11 Karter Knox: 6’6″ 220 lbs, Freshman Forward

6.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.8 apg

Skilled wing with good size and strength. Willing shooter. 61 of 111 shots have been 3’s. Shooting just 27.9% from 3 this season. You need to be there to give a hard contest to the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s, but then bounce back and guard against the right hand drives. No right hand drives!!! He is better attacking closeouts than he is as a catch-and-shoot threat. We want to stay between him and the basket. Hop underneath the ballscreens and handoffs. He is more aggressive looking to get to the rim when going right and will look to shoot the pull-up going left. Contest all jump shots. You can look to come take it off of him when he drives it right. Good cutter. Don’t let him back cut or 45 cut when your head is turned. No uncontested catch-and-shoot 3’s. No straight line, right hand drives.

#3 Adou Thiero: 6’8″ 220 lbs, Junior Forward

16.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 1.9 apg

Super athletic 4-man. He is a NON-SHOOTER!!! Shooting just 7-31 (22.6%) from 3 this season. You need to back up and be ready for him to drive it at you. He is really looking to attack closeouts. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! Closeout short with high hands and choppy feet. Stay between him and the basket at all times. He will recklessly drive it when he can catch and immediately attack. Be ready to take a charge. Come look to take it off of him when he is driving it right. 36 assists, 35 turnovers. Sprint back in transition and be ready for him to attack from the throw ahead. Active cutter. Don’t let him back cut or 45 cut while your head is turned. Help off of him, but you have to see him. Excellent offensive rebounder. Crashes hard. Find him, hit him, and box out. No right hand drives!!!

#9 Jonas Aidoo: 6’11” 240 lbs, Fifth Year Center

5.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.4 apg

Athletic, bouncy 5-man. He is only looking to score directly at the rim. He will ballscreen and roll hard to the basket. Excellent lob threat. You have to give ground and stay lower than him on the roll. Get your hands up to help deter the lob. We should be able to go UNDER a good amount of their ballscreens and handoffs which will help you stay attached to him on the roll. When he isn’t involved in a ballscreen or handoff he will be playing out of the dunker’s spot. Don’t help up off of him and give up a dunk. He will look for a deep duck-in some. Be physical. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Very active on the offensive glass. Find him, hit him, and carve out space. No dunks for him!

Bench

#24 Billy Richmond III: 6’5″ 205 lbs, Freshman Guard/Forward

4.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.8 apg

Left handed. Backup guard. He has taken over more of a primary ball handling role behind #21 Wagner in the absence of #2 Fland. NON-SHOOTER!!! 0-3 from 3 this season. He is not looking to shoot from the perimeter. LEFT HAND DRIVER!!! No left hand drives!!! You need to back up and stay between him and the basket at all times. Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. You are going UNDER in order to stay between him and the basket. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short. We do not want to let him attack our closeouts to his left hand. When you are helping off of him you can’t completely lose sight of him. He is a good cutter. Don’t let him back cut or 45 cut on you. No left hand drives. No layups for him.

#4 Trevon Brazile: 6’10” 230 lbs, Junior Forward

6.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 0.8 apg

Super athletic backup forward. Capable shooter, but not super aggressive from beyond the arc. Shooting 7-19 (36.8%) from 3 this season. Closeout with high hands and choppy feet in order to deter the initial catch-and-shoot 3. Once you are there on the initial catch-and-shoot you need to bounce back and guard against the right hand drive. No right hand drives!!! He will ballscreen and roll to the basket hard. Excellent lob threat. You have to give ground and stay lower than him on the roll. Get your hands up to help deter the lob. We should be able to go UNDER a good amount of their ballscreens and handoffs which will help you stay attached to him on the roll. Don’t help up off of him out of the dunker’s spot and give up a dunk. Right hand, left shoulder. Active offensive rebounder. Box out! No dunks for him!

#44 Zvonimir Ivisic: 7’2″ 245 lbs, Sophomore Forward/Center

7.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.8 apg

Backup 4/5-man. SHOOTER!!! No 3’s!!! 64 of 107 shots have been 3’s. Shooting 40.6% from 3. You have to be tight to him on the perimeter in order to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Closeout aggressively to take him away on the pick-and-pop. Be willing to switch if you need to in order to take him away on the pick-and-pop. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Get up and really pressure him on the perimeter. Make him uncomfortable. He doesn’t want to handle it all. We are primarily concerned about the pick-and-pop, but he will roll some too. Get your hands up to help deter the lob. We should be able to go UNDER a good amount of their ballscreens and handoffs which will help you stay attached to him on the roll/pop. Doesn’t want the game to be physical. No 3’s!!!

Arkansas Razorbacks Offense

Primarily due to a lack of outside shooting, the Arkansas Razorbacks were never going to be great offensively this season. However, the recent loss of Boogie Fland has made things even more difficult for Coach Calipari’s team. Fland was both their best shooter and their best playmaker. Overall, the Razorbacks are averaging just 64.3 points per game and ranked 100th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency. They’ve only broke 70 once in conference play and that came in a 78-74 loss at LSU. What Arkansas does do pretty well still though is get to the basket. #21 Wagner and #1 Davis are capable playmakers. #1 Thiero has turned into a very effective slasher/driver. Kentucky will want to employ a very similar game plan to what led them to victory in Knoxville.

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This is a big “KYP” (Know Your Personnel) game for us. The Arkansas Razorbacks aren’t going to run a bunch of set plays or have intricate half court actions that we have to scout out. However, they will spread the floor and attack off of the dribble as aggressively as possible. They really want to put their head down and get to the basket. Therefore you have to concentrate enough to recognize who you are closing out to at all times. If you are guarding #11 Knox you cannot give him a runway to his right hand. We want to closeout short with high hands, but shade over and contain the right hand drive. Then, at the rim, we shouldn’t have to step up off of #4 Brazile in the dunker’s spot. Make them finish as they drive it.

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Adou Thiero has really emerged as a borderline star as a junior in Fayetteville. However, he is still essentially a one-trick pony offensively. He is going to put his head down and try to bully his way to the rim off of the dribble. We want to go UNDER the handoffs. LSU goes under, but they do so lazily. You still have to get under with URGENCY so you are ready to contain the drive. If you let him initiate the aggression then he is going to be hard to contain. Stay between him and the basket and you largely neutralize his ability.

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Arkansas will set a lot of these side ballscreens where they roll to the basketball and then replace up to the wing behind the play. Again, it is all about “KYP” (Know Your Personnel). If it is someone like #1 Davis replacing then you need to be tighter to him in order to take away the catch-and-shoot 3. However, if it is #24 Richmond III like you see in this clip, you need to closeout short and be ready for the left hand drive. There is no reason to closeout this aggressively to an 0-3 three-point shooter!!! He should not be able to attack our closeouts.

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Here is another look at a roll and replace ballscreen action from the Arkansas Razorbacks. A lot of the pre-movement you see here is just that, pre-movement. They are looking to shift the defense, loosen up some help, and get the spacing they want. With #2 Fland out, #24 Richmond III has taken over more of a primary ball-handler role. That is a major change as Fland was the Razorbacks’ best shooter and Richmond III is 0-3 from deep. We NEED to go under all of the ballscreens and handoffs set for him. Georgia switches in this clip which is fine too. Good aggressive closeout on #1 Davis. However, we need MORE ACTIVE help off of #4 Brazile. The Georgia defender just swiped at the ball. Get in there and cut Davis off!

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You’ll see Coach Calipari call this “head tap” set from the sidelines quite a bit. The play initiates with an Iverson cut followed by hitting the elbow and flaring in for the point guard. From there they will generally flow into a handoff or middle ballscreen and be into their dribble drive offense. #21 Wagner is better finishing going to his left hand than he is driving it right. We still want to make him finish tough shots like this, but trying to take it off of him when he drives it left is certainly an option.

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Coach Calipari has taken floppy action from Lexington to Fayetteville and still runs it a lot with the Arkansas Razorbacks. The only player we need to CHASE is #1 Davis. Otherwise you should be going UP THROUGH the downscreens in order to keep them from curling. Again, we will live with some of these tough finishes from #21 Wagner, but we should be able to do a better job of keeping him out of the paint. Stay between him and the basket at all times!

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This series of staggered double screens is one set action that the Arkansas Razorbacks will run some. Again, the only guy we are worried about CHASING is #1 Davis. Otherwise we want to go UP THROUGH so they can’t curl to the basket. If they throw it inside we should be able to guard them one-on-one. They Their big men aren’t comfortable handling it and not very interested in scoring with you between them and the basket. However, if you do go you need to go AGGRESSIVELY for a steal or a foul. This is perfect defense on #21 Wagner.

Arkansas Razorbacks Defense

The Arkansas Razorbacks have struggled offensively, but they have put together a Top 35 defense in college basketball. They are able to pressure the ball on the perimeter, force some turnovers, and protect the rim at a very high level. The Razorbacks are ninth currently in block percentage. We will have to play off of two feet at the end of our drives and be willing to make the extra pass in order to keep from getting blocked at the rim. Similar to what we did against Tennessee, there will be times where we need to put our head down and beat the ball pressure one-on-one. Look for them to extend some full court, mostly token, pressure as well to try and slow down our offense and make our possessions last a little longer. Rebounding is an issue for them too. Take advantage on the offensive glass.

Keys to the Game

• No 3’s for #1 Davis or #44 Ivisic. Those are the Arkansas Razorbacks’ that yo have to be tight to. Otherwise, closeout short. Hold Davis and Ivisic to no more than four combined 3’s.
• Contain dribble penetration. Pack it in and limit paint touches. Hold them below 50% from two-point range by keeping them from getting to the rim.
• Win the turnover battle.
• Dominate the glass. We should be 33%+ on the offensive glass and 80%+ on the defensive glass.
• Shoot 75% or better at the free throw line.