Scouting Report: Arkansas Razorbacks

It is once again time for Southeastern Conference basketball. This is the final Saturday to Tuesday turnaround of the season for Kentucky (16-7, 7-3) before the schedule flips to Wednesday/Saturday down the stretch. However, the Wildcats do have the benefit of remaining in Lexington since defeating Florida 72-67 over the weekend. The Arkansas Razorbacks (16-7, 5-5) were at South Carolina on Saturday, a 65-63 victory, and now must travel to Rupp Arena for a 9:00 p.m. tip-off on ESPN. Travel isn’t exactly a laborious activity at the high-major college level, but at this point in the season the lack of rest starts to pile up regardless. We are officially in the February grind of the conference schedule and both of these teams need to continue stacking up wins.

Kentucky and Arkansas are two teams trending in the right direction. Each had extremely high preseason expectations that proved to be too lofty. However, each has righted the ship and are currently playing as well as anyone in the league. The Wildcats have won six straight SEC games while the Razorbacks currently are riding a four-game SEC winning streak. Coach Eric Musselman, fresh off of a trip to the Elite 8, has played just five games with five-star freshman Nick Smith Jr. and lost impact transfer Trevon Brazile for the season to an ACL tear after just nine games. Those injuries are certainly part of what led to a 1-5 start in the conference. Since that time they have seen others settle into their roles and it has turned the season around.

Despite being without Smith Jr., Coach Musselman still has a pair of five-star freshmen at his disposal. Anthony Black and Jordan Walsh are two of the better newcomers in the Southeastern Conference. Meanwhile, Wichita State transfer Ricky Council IV has emerged as a potential First Team All-SEC guy averaging 17 points per game after his jump to the high-major level. Veteran guard Davonte Davis has been a consistent performer as well to help steady the Razorbacks in the face of injury adversity. The ceiling may be lower without Smith Jr. and Brazile in uniform, but this is still a very dangerous Arkansas team.

As always, we have a full scouting report to help prepare you for this contest. We will take a deep-dive into their personnel, breakdown their offensive and defensive schemes, and highlight the keys to the game. Let’s dive on in and get to know more about the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Arkansas Razorbacks Offense

Starters

#0 Anthony Black: 6’7″ 198 lbs, Freshman Guard

12.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 4.0 apg

Bigger guard. Much more dangerous as a driver a shooter. 20-63 from 3, but over 50% from 2. Need to be close enough to give a hard contest to the 3’s, but more worried about his ability to drive it. Go under ballscreens and handoffs. The ones behind are not the 3’s he makes. No right hand drives! Very capable going either direction, but better going to his right. Wants to finish with his right hand. Need to get your hands up and be physical at the end of his drives. He is going to have a size advantage so you must make it as difficult as possible with a hard contest to all mid-range jumpers and floaters. Cuts very well off of the ball. You can help off of him, but can’t lose sight. Excellent offensive rebounder as well. Box out! Contest everything. More shots than points for him!

#4 Davonte Davis: 6’4″ 185 lbs, Junior Guard

11.0 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.9 apg

Lefty. Extremely quick and athletic. Wants to drive the ball left in a straight line. NO LEFT HAND DRIVES!!! He will push it hard in transition and attack downhill off of ballscreens. Have to stay between him and the basket at all times. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Those are not the 3’s he is going to shoot. Capable shooter, their best shooter, 27-84 from 3. Need to tighten up enough to give a hard contest to the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Next most dangerous in transition. Both because of his ability to catch-and-shoot and also his ability to drive it left on the throw ahead. Bounce back after initial closeout to guard against the left hand drive. Not a high percentage finisher with someone between him and the basket. Do not over help when he drives it right. No left hand drives. No layups!

#1 Ricky Council IV: 6’6″ 205 lbs, Junior Guard

17.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.4 apg

Very aggressive. Best offensive player. Not a good 3-point shooter. 24-89 from 3. Want to stay between him and the basket and take away penetration. Do not guard him out beyond the arc and get beat off of the dribble. No right hand drives!!! Be ready to give a hard contest to all jump shots, but you are most concerned with containing penetration. Likes to use his size and strength to get to the rim. Bring some help when he is driving it, especially when he is driving it right. Come take it off of him. 56 assists, 56 turnovers. Will shot fake on the perimeter to lift you and attack your closeout. No reason to bite on the fakes because we don’t mind him shooting. Should closeout a step or two short anyway. Limit his paint touches. Contest everything. No right hand drives. More shots than points for him!

#15 Makhi Mitchell: 6’9″ 230 lbs, Senior Forward/Center

7.2 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.0 apg

Strong, physical post. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Capable of catching it on the roll and scoring. You need to give ground and stay lower than him to take away the layups and dunks on the roll. We should be going under most of the ballscreens anyway which will take away the need to help at the point of the screen. Don’t help up off of him at the rim and give up a dunk. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Excellent offensive rebounder. Need to make contact when the shot goes up. Box out! Make him score everything with you between him and the basket. No left shoulder baskets. No layups or dunks for him!

#22 Makhel Mitchell: 6’10” 240 lbs, Senior Forward/Center

4.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.5 apg

Strong, physical post. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Capable of catching it on the roll and scoring. You need to give ground and stay lower than him to take away the layups and dunks on the roll. We should be going under most of the ballscreens anyway which will take away the need to help at the point of the screen. Don’t help up off of him at the rim and give up a dunk. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Excellent offensive rebounder. Need to make contact when the shot goes up. Box out! Make him score everything with you between him and the basket. No left shoulder baskets. No layups or dunks for him!

Bench

6’7″ 205 lbs, Freshman Guard/Forward

7.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.0 apg

Athletic, talented wing. Much more dangerous as a driver than a shooter. 14-50 from 3, but 54.3% from 2. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! Closeout short to stay between him and the basket. Do not let him attack your closeouts. We want to make him take contested jump shots. Just get a hand up to contest if he shoots it from 3. You are closing out to contain penetration and take away the right hand drives. When he does drive it right we want to bring help and come take it off of him. Not thinking about passing. 23 assists, 26 turnovers. Always coming back right to finish. Be ready for shot fakes and pivots at the end of his drives to come back right. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Contest the mid-range jumpers and face-ups in post. No right hand drives! More shots than points for him.

#11 Jalen Graham: 6’9″ 225 lbs, Senior Forward

5.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.5 apg

Backup forward. Very good around the basket. He is a NON-SHOOTER! 0-2 from 3. No reason to guard him out on the perimeter. Stay inside and guard against the right hand drives. No right hand drives! Exclusively looking to score at the rim. All right hand around the basket. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and make him score over you. Will use a lot of shot fakes and pivots to try and lift you and score back with his right hand. Stay down on the fakes! Wall up and be physical on the left shoulder. Do not let him turn the corner. No quick drop steps. Stunt and fake at him when he has the ball inside. 10 assists, 26 turnovers. Come take it off of him after one or two dribbles. Stay down on the fakes. No right hand drives. Make him score over you.

Arkansas Razorbacks Offense

The Arkansas Razorbacks have been streaky offensively due to being one of the worst shooting teams in college basketball. They attempt only 16 3-pointers per game and make them at just a 30.6% clip. That is 323rd in the country. However, what they lack on the perimeter they make up for with their ability to attack the basket. The Razorbacks score nearly 60% of their points from 2-point range which is 11th most nationally. Their attacking style also allows them to get to the free throw line a lot, but the convert at less than 70% at the charity stripe. They also set a lot of ballscreens and are excellent in transition. Our defense must be ready for them to attack the rim at all times and focus on staying between them and the basket. Let’s look at the film.

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#4 Davis is extremely quick end-to-end in transition. You have to SPRINT back to protect the basket so that we can then get the ball stopped. The first two guys back need to communicate so one can get the basket and the other can step up and stop the ball. South Carolina just waits until Davis is already too deep and it allows him to get back to his right hand to finish. You need to be very deliberate in taking away his left hand.

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Per Synergy, the Arkansas Razorbacks are rated “excellent” scoring 1.145 points per possession in transition. As always, the transition defense mantra is protect the basket, stop the ball, and then matchup beginning with the next most dangerous. You do not have specific matchups when guarding in transition. #4 Davis is not a great shooter, but he is always the next most dangerous in transition and is at his best when shooting catch-and-shoot transition 3’s. We have to sprint back on defense every possession.

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Arkansas is a heavy ballscreen team and will get to them out of some different sets in the half court. Several of their favorite actions are out of a Horns alignment. When the Razorbacks go smaller, which they will most of the game, we need to be very willing to switch the ballscreens. However, when you don’t switch, our guards have to have urgency getting back in front of the ball. You can’t get stuck on #0 Black’s hip. He is too big and too good of a finisher in the intermediate range. Our big man also can’t recover to the roll until the guard is completely back in front of the ball. It would also be great, absent a switch, if we could see this coming and just hop underneath the screen. Black is not much of a threat to shoot it behind.

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The Razorbacks have bigger guards which makes them very hard to guard as they attack the basket. They will run this elbow ballscreen action for all of their guards, but here it is for #1 Council IV. Anytime ballscreens are set this close to the basket you have to be VERY willing to switch. This is too easy of a shot for a player as good as Council. We have to have better contests on all of their jump shots from the mid-range.

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A lot of the Arkansas Razorbacks offensive possessions will begin with a ballscreen and then essentially turn into 4-around-1 dribble drive motion. All of the guys that they play are better drivers than shooters. We constantly have to be thinking about protecting the paint and staying between the ball and the basket. You need to stay down on shot fakes as well. Their guards love to shot fake and pivot around so they can finish with their strong hand. We would rather #1 Council IV take a contested 2-point jumper outside of the paint than get a chance to score beyond you at the rim like he does here.

Arkansas Razorbacks Defense

Under Coach Eric Musselman the Arkansas Razorbacks have become known for the aggressive style of defense. They are going to get out in the passing lanes, pressure the ball, and attempt to keep you on a side on the perimeter. Arkansas will ICE the side ballscreens which means they force you towards the baseline and look to funnel the ball towards the rim where they are among the best in the country and block shots. The Razorbacks are 24th nationally in block percentage and allow opponents to shoot just 45.3% from 2 which is 20th best in the country. What they lack in raw size around the basket they more than make up for with bigger guards and excellent 1-5 athleticism. Their goal is to make you uncomfortable with the ball and take you out of what you want to do offensively.

Keys to the Game

• Stay between the ball and the basket. Protect the paint. No right hand drives for #1 Council IV, #0 Black, and #13 Walsh. No left hand drives for #4 Davis. Can’t give up strong hand drives to those guys. Force them to score outside of the paint.
• Dominate the glass. Arkansas isn’t a great rebounding team on either end. We need to convert second chance opportunities and defensive rebounding at a 77%+ clip.
• Take care of the ball. The Arkansas Razorbacks pressure the ball, play in the passing lanes, and turn opponents over at a good rate. We need to turn it over 13 or fewer times in this one.
• Shoot 75% or better from the free throw line.