No one should overreact to one summer exhibition game in any sport, but it was always going to be a point of great excitement to see this new Arkansas basketball roster together on the floor in The Bahamas. The Razorbacks beat the Bahamas national team, 106-59. Whole Hog Sports offered some details:
“The Razorbacks, who primarily ran a 10-man rotation, scored 37 points off turnovers and limited the Bahamas to a 36% shooting night.
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“I think it’s just an example of what we’re capable of,” said associate head coach Kenny Payne, who coached in place of John Calipari because he wanted to observe how the team and staff did. “We haven’t really focused a lot of defense, we never do in the summer. But we have tough-minded, long athletes that will get after you.”
“Offensively, Arkansas had five players score in double figures — Jordan Smith, Billy Richmond, Abdou Toure, JJ Andrews and Davion Thomson. Smith led all scorers with 22 points. Toure finished with 16 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and 2 assists.
“Coach has been on me about playing hard,” Toure said. “I just went out there with the mentality to be a dog and do anything it takes to win.”
Payne later added: “For me, the biggest thing is watching these guys before we played and how excited they were to be in that uniform and perform for the first time knowing that it wasn’t going to be perfect. To see them make mistakes but also to see them play with great energy, you can — right off the bat — tell that we have a bunch of athletes.”
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The big statistic to emerge from this game: Arkansas forced 26 Bahamas turnovers. This defense was all over the court. As we know, Arkansas’ defense was lacking last season, in large part due to the reality that Darius Acuff was not ultra-sharp at that end of the floor and focused on his offense. This season’s team figured to be much better on defense, and that came across very clearly and strongly in Game 1. That’s a very good sign for this team.
The thing about Arkansas’ defense is that by forcing turnovers, it created points at the other end. It’s one thing to have a good field goal percentage defense. To be sure, that’s a very good thing. However, elite defenses have the field goal percentage and the ability to create turnovers and easy transition baskets. Arkansas has a lot of potential. The first game in this summer exhibition series showed the Hogs can be complete on defense. That will help in March Madness.
It’s just one game, but it’s hard not to be excited about what’s coming for Arkansas hoops.
