Scouting Report: Arkansas Razorbacks

Once again, all eyes across the college basketball universe will be on the ‘Cats on a Saturday afternoon. The #18 Arkansas Razorbacks (22-6, 11-4) will host the #6 Kentucky Wildcats at 2:00 on CBS. Both of these programs are as hot as anyone in the country as the regular season nears its end. Arkansas has won 12 of their last 13 games with a one point loss at Alabama being their only defeat. Likewise, Kentucky has won eight of their last nine games including two straight without Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington. Bud Walton Arena will be rocking for this one.

The Razorbacks, fresh off a trip to the Elite Eight last season, struggled during a month long stretch around Christmas time. They got blown out by Oklahoma, lost to Hofstra, then began SEC play 0-3 with losses to Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M. At the time, it seemed as if it would be a long season in Fayetteville. However, that quickly changed as Arkansas has been one of the best teams in college basketball since that stretch.

As we do for each game, we have a full scouting report prepared to get you ready for today’s matchup. We will take a deep-dive into their personnel, breakdown the offensive and defensive schemes, and finish with the keys to the game. Now, let’s get focused for tip-off and get to know more about the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Arkansas Razorbacks Personnel

Starters

#1 JD Notae: 6’2″ 190 lbs, Redshirt Senior Guard

18.7 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 3.4 apg

Extremely aggressive playmaker. Averages 16 shot attempts per game. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Looking to squeeze them off from deep. You have to get all the way out to him and take him away from 3. Break his rhythm off the dribble. Loves to shoot off the dribble 3’s. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Don’t help off him. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Switch if you need to and stay tight to him. Make him drive it as opposed to giving up a 3 on the switch. Stay on his hip and contest at the end of his drives. Protect the basket and get the ball stopped in transition. Contest everything. More shots than points for him. No 3’s!

#5 Au’Diese Toney: 6’6″ 205 lbs, Senior Guard

10.3 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 0.8 apg

Athletic, left-handed guard. Non-shooter. Just 6-20 on the season. Much better as a left-hand driver. NO LEFT HAND DRIVES!!! Closeout short to guard against the left hand drives. Stay between him and the basket. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Help off him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short to stay between him and the basket. Do not help when he is driving it right. Aggressively help when he is driving it left. 23 assists to 37 turnovers. He is not thinking about passing when he drives it left. Come take it off him. Will fly in from the perimeter to crash the offensive glass. 67 offensive rebounds. BOX OUT!!!

#0 Stanley Umude: 6’6″ 210 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

11.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 1.0 apg

Long, athletic wing. Good shooter. No catch-and-shoot 3’s! Need to be tight to him to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Once you take away the initial catch-and-shoot you need to bounce back and guard against the right hand drives. No right hand drives!!! Very good driving it right. We want to closeout aggressively agains the catch-and-shoot, but break down to not let him attack your closeout. Aggressively help when he drives it right. 29 assists to 45 turnovers. Not thinking about passing when he drives it right. Box out! No catch-and-shoot 3’s! No right hand drives.

#3 Trey Wade: 6’6″ 220 lbs, Graduate Student Forward

3.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.7 apg

Strong, undersized 4-man. Very physical. Capable shooter but not super aggressive. Need to be ready to throw a hand up if he shoots it from 3. We will tighten up if he makes a couple. Be willing to help off him when he doesn’t have it on the perimeter. You can closeout a step or two short but have your hands up to contest. Better as a right hand driver. No right hand drives! Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Right hand, left shoulder inside. Be physical on his left shoulder and make him finish back into you with his right. Will crash the offensive glass hard. Be physical and box him out!

#10 Jaylin Williams: 6’10” 240 lbs, Sophomore Forward

10.4 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2.8 apg

Very skilled forward. Likes to face-up and will play out on the perimeter a lot. Likes to drive it right from the wings. No right hand drives! Loves to spin on his way to the basket. Will spin either direction and can finish with either hand around the basket. Need to stay between him and the basket and make him score over you. Capable jump shooter. Need to throw a hand up to contest when he is on the perimeter. Be tighter to him in the mid-range. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Take away the initial drop steps. No drop steps! Need to stunt at him and dig the ball out. Very good passer. Be physical and box out when the shot goes up! Make him work to get a catch. Make him score over you.

Bench

#4 Davonte Davis: 6’4″ 180 lbs, Sophomore Guard

9.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.0 apg

Super athletic left-handed guard. Capable shooter but much better as a left-hand driver. NO LEFT HAND DRIVES!!! Very quick off the dribble. Closeout short with your hands up to stay between him and the basket. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Excellent in transition. Have to sprint back to protect the basket and then get the ball stopped. Get over and cut off the left-hand drive when they throw it ahead to him. Help off him when he doesn’t have it and then closeout short with high hands. Aggressively help off non-shooters when he is driving it left. Shouldn’t need to help when he drives it right. Stay between him and the basket. No left-hand drives. No layups!!!

#11 Chris Lykes: 5’7″ 160 lbs, Fifth Year Senior Guard

8.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 1.7 apg

Small, quick guard. Very aggressive with the ball in his hands. Trying to make a play at all times. Play him as straight up as possible. Capable and willing shooter. Need to be there to give a good contest when he shoots. Give him enough space to protect against the right hand drive. No right hand drives! You don’t have to take him away from 3, but be ready to contest. Would error on the side of cutting off the right hand drives until he makes one. Hop under the ballscreens and handoffs. The deeper he drives it the more he is driving to pass. Don’t over help. Get your hands up and make him finish inside. Get the ball stopped in transition. No layups for him!

#14 Jaxson Robinson: 6’6″ 185 lbs, Sophomore Guard

3.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 0.5 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! Have to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s! 41 of 48 shots have been 3’s. Tighten up as the ball is driven towards you. Absolutely no help off him. Get over ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Switch if there is space to take him away from 3. Find him in transition. No 3’s!

#20 Kamani Johnson: 6’7″ 235 lbs, Redshirt Junior Forward

2.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.3 apg

Strong backup forward. Primarily in there to screen, rebound, and defend. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical on his left shoulder inside. Make him score with you between him and the basket. Excellent offensive rebounder. Crashes the glass hard. Need to be physical and box him out when the shot goes up.

#2 Khalen Robinson: 6’0″ 180 lbs, Sophomore Guard

1.3 ppg, 0.4 rpg, 0.7 apg

Lefty. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 17 of 25 shots have been 3’s. Shooting a significantly better percentage from 3 than 2. Need to be tight to him to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. No help off him. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Switch if there is space to take him away from 3. Find him in transition. No 3’s!

Arkansas Razorbacks Offense

The Arkansas Razorbacks are in attack mode when they have the basketball. They will spend a lot of time playing with four guards who can all drive the ball aggressively and effectively. You have to be ready to guard the dribble-drive at all times. Arkansas is fourth nationally in free throw attempts because of the way they relentlessly attack the paint off the dribble. We must do a great job of playing defense without fouling and staying between them and the basket.

In terms of scheme, the Razorbacks are a 4-around-1, sometimes 5-out, Motion team that will lean towards dribble drive principles a lot of the time. They will ballscreen at the top of the key or in the slots, but a lot of their drives are simply allowing a player to create in space. With only a couple of “shooters” to worry about we will be able to aggressively help on strong hand drives quite a bit. You will need to know the personnel scout very well to make good, on the fly, decisions about when and where to help.

Teams like Tennessee and Mississippi State that are good at staying in front of the ball have been able to slow down the Razorbacks offense this season. They aren’t a great outside shooting team, just 31.3% on the season, so points can be hard to come by when they aren’t getting to the rim and the free throw line. Arkansas is 16th nationally with 21.9% of their points coming from the charity stripe. Simply limiting the fouls can go a long way towards winning this game today. Now, let’s step inside the film room to take a look at the Arkansas Razorbacks offense.

High Ballscreen Roll & Replace

When Arkansas sets a high ballscreen they will do somewhat of a delayed roll in order to keep the paint clear for the dribble drive. You just can’t let yourself get this turned around at the point of the screen. #1 Notae is quick driving it either direction. Still, get him going left and stay on his hip to contest at the rim. If you don’t get completely smoked you can make it much harder to finish inside.

5-Out Motion

A lot of the Arkansas Motion will flow into 5-out. They like to clear out the lane to allow for maximum space to drive the basketball. There generally isn’t much off-ball screening, but the Razorbacks do a good job of cutting and moving the ball. When the lane is clear it allows for back cuts like you seen in this clip. There won’t always be much help at the rim. Don’t get back cut!

4-Around-1 Motion

This is a look at when they go to more of a 4-Around-1. It is actually #0 Umude staying around the basket which allows #10 Williams to get out and ballscreen. You can’t help “up” at the rim when someone is in the dunker’s spot. Also, don’t stare at the ball when #11 Lykes is driving it, especially driving it left. Just make him finish over length.

We shouldn’t give up baskets like this because we aren’t going to hard hedge ballscreens 30 feet from the basket, but this is just bad defense in this clip. You cannot let #4 Davis get going downhill to his left hand. You have to get over and cut it off. Also, there is no reason to have both feet above the 3-point line when guarding #5 Toney. These are the type of plays the Razorbacks want to make off the dribble. If you stay solid you can take them away.

Horns Ballscreen Roll & Replace

The personnel scouting report is going to be very important against the Arkansas Razorbacks. You need to understand who to help off of, who to closeout to, and which hand to take away from drivers. On this possession, Florida made a really bad scouting report specific decision. Instead of scrambling to closeout to #5 Toney, a 6-20 3-point shooter this season, the defender should have just stunted at him and stayed with #0 Umude at the top of the key, a 35.1% 3-point shooter. Giving away points like this will get you beat on the road.

The Arkansas Razorbacks are in attack mode off the dribble for 40 minutes. When #1 Notae comes off a ballscreen you do have to be up there to break his rhythm and take away the pull-up 3’s. However, you want to keep your feet as far away from him as possible. You should constantly be thinking about all of their guys driving it at you. Their wings are good at cutting along the baseline as #5 Toney does in this clip. Stay between them and the basket!

Arkansas Razorbacks Defense

The Arkansas Razorbacks win games with their defense. They come in at #14 in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency and that passes the eye test on film. Coach Musselman’s team is excellent at staying between the ball and the basket. They will go under ballscreens, go up through screening action, and give space to stay in front of the ball. When the ball is driven or goes into the post they will help and use their length to bother the ball while still being able to closeout. They are very active and solid on the defensive side of the floor.

While they do a good job overall on the defensive end, they aren’t necessarily elite at forcing turnovers. They are very good in that category as well, but it is nothing like LSU in terms of ball pressure. Arkansas ranks 51st in turnover percentage and 69th in steal percentage. It is a defense set up much more to force contested jump shots than it is to create turnovers.

One thing that you do have to know is that they will really try to keep the ball on a side defensively. Their on-ball defenders will completely turn their shoulders to the sideline when the ball is on the wing. ICING ballscreens comes with the territory as well. This next clip gives you a look at it.

You can see the defenders shoulders turned completely to the sideline at the point of the screen. Flipping the ballscreen and then snaking back to the middle of the floor is a great move, but you have to be ready for the long arms coming into swipe at the ball.

Keys to the Game

• Stay between them and the basket. No left hand drives for #5 Toney or #4 Davis and no right hand drives for #0 Umude or #11 Lykes. No post drop steps for #10 Williams. Error on the side of packing it in and make these guys take jump shots. No layups!
• No 3’s for #1 Notae or #0 Umude. These are the primary guys that we have to stay tight to and take away from 3. Same with #14 J. Robinson and #2 K. Robinson when they are in the game.
• Dominate the glass. Arkansas is undersized but really crashes the glass hard from the perimeter. Be physical and box them out. Crash the glass hard on our end to get second chance points.
• Be aggressive and confident. The Razorbacks aren’t going to apply as much pressure or try and force turnovers like LSU. Take open 3’s. Drive it hard in a straight line and be ready to kick. Get it and go in transition. Need to score 80 in this one.