FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas has already played a pair of big-name schools in its nonconference schedule.
There was Louisville, which used its depth to roll to a 30-point win against the Razorbacks in mid-November. Then Oklahoma, which leaned on its talented youth to pick up a 20-point win in early December.
So it was a little surprising to hear what Arkansas coach John Pelphrey had to say about Missouri State, the Razorbacks next opponent, on Sunday afternoon.
“I think that these guys are just as good if not better than those teams,” Pelphrey said. “So from our side of it, we know how we competed in those games and the challenge that lies ahead of us for this one.
“This is a very, very good basketball team.”
Arkansas (6-5) will put a four-game win streak on the line when it plays Missouri State in Bud Walton Arena tonight at 7. The Bears may not have the same name recognition as Louisville or Oklahoma, but have opened the season with 10 straight wins and are one of eight undefeated teams remaining in Division I.
Missouri State already has one win against a Southeastern Conference school, beating Auburn 73-62 in the season opener. It has a quality victory against Tulsa, too. And the Bears are 3-0 on the road, winning each road game by at least 10 points.
Missouri State’s start has been good enough to push it to No. 25 according to realtimerpi.com. So it’s clear the Bears are capable of running the Razorbacks off of their home fl oor tonight.
“They’re undefeated and they’ve beat some good teams and they’ve also beat some good teams on the road, which shows a lot about their team,” Arkansas guard Rotnei Clarke said. “We’ve just got to be able to get prepared these couple days that we have and get ready for them. ... They’ve had a lot of success. We’re just going to try to be prepared for them.”
Pelphrey is primarily concerned about his team’s performance on the defensive end tonight.
Missouri State’s leading scorer is power forward Kyle Weems, who is averaging 14.4 points and 5.5 rebounds a game. Weems has the ability to score inside and out. He ranks second on the team in 3-point field goal percentage (44.2).
But the Bears are solid on offense throughout their lineup, shooting 46.5 percent as a team. That includes 40.5 percent from behind the 3-point line.
“I think it’s as good a shooting team as we’ve played,” Pelphrey said. “When you’re a good 3-point shooting basketball team you put a lot of pressure on the defense. All of a sudden, you make one, two of those, heaven forbid they make three in a row, they have a spurt-ability to them from the offensive side of it that you just can’t relax defensively.”