A brilliant stretch of offense to close the nonconference schedule had Arkansas basketball feeling optimistic about the roster’s overall shooting. Entering the SEC opener against No. 1 Tennessee, the Razorbacks ranked fourth nationally in field-goal percentage (50.8%) while hitting 3-pointers at a 36.8% rate.
But preseason concerns appeared to be justified Saturday. The Hogs (11-3, 0-1 SEC) shot a season-low 37.7% from the floor against the Volunteers (14-0, 1-0), going 6 for 29 on 3-pointers and, even worse, 6 for 13 at the free-throw line.
Add it all up, and Arkansas got run out the gym in a 76-52 loss that represented the worst offensive performance of the year.
“Look, you don’t have to make all your 3s, but you can’t miss them all,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “You can’t miss 10 in-a-row, or you’re not going to win.”
More: Arkansas basketball needs ‘soul-searching’ after being overwhelmed on the glass by Tennessee
More: Arkansas basketball, John Calipari blown out by No. 1 Tennessee in SEC opener
DJ Wagner and Karter Knox hit on the first two attempts from downtown, but Arkansas then proceeded to miss 19 of its next 21 3-pointers. That drought coincided with a dominant Tennessee run that stretched the lead to double figures, and the Vols led 42-27 at halftime.
The offensive malaise wasn’t a total surprise. Tennessee leads the country in 3-point defense and is second in scoring defense, but it was a giant step back. Arkansas had scored at least 80 points in four straight games.
Boogie Fland and Johnell Davis represented Arkansas’ biggest disappointments from behind the arc. That duo combined to go 2 for 12, with Davis missing all four of his attempts. Davis had missed the Hogs’ previous two games with a wrist injury.
The Razorbacks’ leading 3-point shooter on the season is 7-foot-2 big man Zvonimir Ivisic, who entered Saturday 20 of 44. He went 1 for 2 against Tennessee, but he continues to struggle on the defensive end and has seen his minutes dramatically decrease in recent weeks.
Calipari needs to find a way to keep Ivisic on the floor. His impact stretching opposing defenses is too valuable. The Hogs play most possessions with at least two players who aren’t threats from the outside.
After the game, Calipari said the bad shooting numbers weren’t a product of poor offense. He thought his team generated quality looks, but the shots just would not fall.
However, he didn’t like how the misses negatively affected the Razorbacks in other dimensions.
“If we created a good look, and we miss some of them, I looked at them and said, ‘Guys, you’re not going to make every shot. Just keep playing. Fight.’ You’ve got to learn to fight when you’re not playing well. So this was a great learning experience for this team,” he said.
There are other, more important factors that played into the blowout loss.
Tennessee won the rebounding margin 51-29 and got 29 points from Chaz Lanier. Zakai Zeigler won the battle of New York City point guards against Boogie Fland, and Arkansas couldn’t have asked for a more difficult start to the conference schedule than a road game against the top-ranked team in the country.
Arkansas now has three days to regroup before a home game against No. 23 Ole Miss.
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