FAYETTEVILLE — One exhibition game didn’t answer all of Arkansas Coach Tom Collen’s questions about his team going into the season.
It did, however, give him a positive glimpse at all the ingredients.
Eleven players contributed at least 13 minutes and the Razorbacks used their pressure defense and quick-strike offense to overwhelm NAIA Rogers State 69-40 on Sunday at Walton Arena. Arkansas scored 38 points off 36 Rogers State turnovers, overcoming 37-percent shooting.
“There’s a lot of questions about this team,” Collen said. “I don’t know if we got all the answers today, but the good news is I think there are answers out there. There are players on this team with a ton of potential.”
Arkansas, which opens the season Friday at home against Jackson State, had four players score at least 10 points againstRogers State, from Claremore, Okla. Behind a full-court pressure defense, the Razorbacks scored 21 of their 30 first-half points off 18 Rogers State turnovers and used an 11-0 run early in the game to get all the cushion they would need.
“Our emphasis is going to be on defense,” said Arkansas senior forward Quistelle Williams, who led the Razorbacks with 14 points on 5 of 9 shooting. “We are trying to be a defensive team and an offensive team, but we pride ourselves on our defense.”
That defense held Rogers State to 29.8 percent shooting and helped Arkansas get away with a lackluster offense which committed 18 turnovers and was only 8 of 26 on threepointers.
“No coach wants their team to play sloppy and 18 turnovers is way too many in an exhibition game against this team,” Collen said. “But when you’re rotating kids in and out every four to five minutes and they’re a little nervous out there trying to prove to me they deserve minutes, they get going a little faster than they’re ready to play right now.
“I think that’s something that we’ll work through as we establish a rotation and we leave kids on the floor a little longer and let them get in a groove.”
Sophomore Jhasmin Bowen scored 11 points in 13 minutes while senior forward Sarah Watkins and junior Dominique Robinson each added 10.
Watkins, a second-team All-SEC selection who averaged 10 points per game last season, was 5 of 7 shooting in 22 minutes of play. Melissa Wolfe, a freshman guard from Cabot, came off the bench to have a team-high 8 rebounds and 5 steals and scored 7 points. Redshirt freshman Joey Bailey added four steals in 16 minutes of play.
“At some level a lot of our players might be unknowns to the Arkansas fans whether they are true freshmen or whether they are players who have sat on the bench quite a few minutes during their careers,” Collen said. “But I think they are viable options for us. I think it was good to get the freshmen out there and get some jitters out.”
A three-pointer from sophomore Calli Berna gave Arkansas a 7-4 lead with 14:37 left in the first half and ignited an11-0 run. Three-pointers from Wilson and Wolff made it 18-10 with 8:49 left in the half and that’s as close as the Hillcats would get. The Razorbacks would score eight points off five turnovers to open the second half to quickly push it’s lead to 38-19.
“There is certainly going to be some teams that we run into that will be much more difficult to press, but we want to set the pace and pick up the ball early at 94 feet even if we aren’t trapping. Even if we don’t get turnovers, we want to create easy baskets. I think we are better in transition than we are in a half court so I think you’re going to see us get after people this year.”
Arkansas, which led by as many as 31 points in the second half, finished with 20 steals.
“Their press is fast and tall and it’s well executed,” Rogers State Coach Roxanne Long said. “I thought we handled it pretty well actually. Most of the turnovers we had were forced and Arkansas caused them.
“Arkansas is an incredible team. ... I know they have a lot of new pieces, but all the new players they have, they are all very talented and very aggressive. I think they can really cause some damage in their conference.”
Sports, Pages 17 on 11/05/2012