Today’s game
NO. 16 ARKANSAS MEN VS. KANSAS STATE
WHEN 8 p.m. Central WHERE T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Mo.
RECORDS Arkansas 3-0; Kansas State 2-0 SERIES Kansas State leads 8-3 RADIO Razorback Sports Network TV ESPN News
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Arkansas Razorbacks have shown the ability to score points in bunches when needed early this season.
“I don’t know if it’s a word, but we have a lot of ‘spurtability’ at times,” University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “I mean, we’ve proven now that we can come at you real quick, and strike, and go on a 13-0 run or go on a 25-5 run.” The No. 16 Razorbacks (3-0) hope to keep playing with spurtability — which is in their playbook if not in the dictionary — when they take on Kansas State (2-0) at 8 tonight in T-Mobile Center in the Hall of Fame Classic.
“The games I’ve watched, even from their exhibitions, the other teams are playing well and have some control of the game, then all of a sudden there’s that five-minute spurt where they get the team sped up and get on one of those runs,” Kansas State Coach Bruce Weber said.
“I watched the Mercer game — and boom, boom, boom — five bad possessions, five scores for Arkansas, and the game has totally changed.” Arkansas beat Mercer 74-61 in the season opener and had an 18-3 run over a seven-minute span after the Bears took a 54-53 lead with 9:41 left.
The Razorbacks blocked a shot (Jaylin Williams) and had three players combine for six steals (JD Notae 3, Davonte Davis 2 and Au’Diese Toney 1) in that span and held Mercer to 1-of-7 shooting.
Arkansas beat Gardner Webb 86-69 with a 29-5 run that put the Razorbacks ahead 44-26 with 19:44 left.
Against Northern Iowa, the Razorbacks outscored the Panthers 21-5 the final 4:11 to win 93-80.
“You want your team to close the game properly, which we did,” Musselman said.
Toney, Williams and Notae had steals in the final 1:50.
“Defense plays a lot into how quickly you can put points on the board,” Mussel-man said. “It’s really hard to go on scoring runs or scoring spurts if you’re not getting defensive stops and defensive rebounds.” The Razorbacks have outscored their opponents 56-26 in points off of turnovers. Live-ball turnovers have helped them to a 46-23 edge in fast-break points.
“It starts with defense,” said Notae, a senior guard who is averaging 21.7 points and leads Arkansas with 11 steals. “We’ve got to get stops and get out in transition and get some easy buckets. Just get in the flow.” Northern Iowa Coach Ben Jacobson said Arkansas — which advanced to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight last season — is worthy of its national ranking.
“Watching on film and playing against them, I believe they will be ranked in the Top 20 all year long,” Jacobson said. “A team that will be at the top of the SEC and be in the NCAA Tournament with a chance to win several games again.” Arkansas has plenty of scoring options for its runs, so defenses can’t focus on trying to shut down one or two players.
Notate had a team-high 30 points against Mercer and is averaging 21.7. Junior forward Connor Vanover had 19 points against Gardner-Webb.
Senior guard Chris Lykes is averaging 15.7 points off the bench and led Arkansas with 26 against Northern Iowa.
Toney, a senior guard, had 18 points against Mercer and 13 against Northern Iowa. Davis, a sophomore guard, had 10 points against Gardner-Webb and Northern Iowa.
Williams, a sophomore forward, had 11 points against Northern Iowa and Stanley Umude, a senior guard, had
10.
“We’ve got guys on our team that are capable of getting a hot hand at times,” Notae said. “So we’re just trying to share the ball with each other.” Arkansas has had different leaders in scoring, rebounding and assists in all three of its games.
“They have versatility, they have athleticism,” Weber said. “They’ve got a lot of people that can score.
“Defensively, they’ll throw a lot of different things at you to create a little bit of chaos.” Weber said Arkansas’ defense is different than “Press Virginia,” the nickname for West Virginia’s constant full-court pressure under Coach Bob Huggins, but still effective.
“They’ll switch everything, they’ll run and jump you,” Weber said. “They’ll take away side out of bounds. Those key possessions are the things that have been big difference-makers for them.
“They’ve got a lot of different people that can make plays for them on both ends of the court.” That’s how it works with a team that has spurtability.
No. 16 Arkansas men vs. Kansas State
WHAT Hall of Fame Classic WHEN 8 p.m. Central today WHERE T-Mobile Center, Kansas City, Mo. RECORDS Arkansas 3-0; Kansas State 2-0 SERIES Kansas State leads 8-3 RADIO Razorback Sports Network TV ESPNews
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
KANSAS STATE POS. NAME, HT., YR. PPG RPG G Nigel Pack, 6-0, So. 16.5 1.5 G Mark Smith, 6-4, Sr. 11.5 7.0 G Shelton Miguel, 6-4, So. 9.5 5.0 F Ismael Massoud, 6-9, So. 10.0 4.5 F Kaosi Ezeagu, 6-10, Jr. 7.5 5.5 COACH Bruce Weber (172-130 in 10 seasons at Kansas State, 485-286 in 24 seasons overall) ARKANSAS POS. NAME, HT., YR. PPG RPG G JD Notae, 6-2, Sr. 21.7 3.7 G Davonte Davis, 6-4, So. 6.7 3.7 G Au’Diese Toney, 6-6, Sr. 11.3 7.3 F Connor Vanover, 7-3, Jr. 10.5 4.0 F Jaylin Williams, 6-10, So. 6.9 7.3 COACH Eric Musselman (48-19 in three seasons at Arkansas, 158-53 in seven seasons overall).
TEAM COMPARISON
Kansas State Arkansas 73.0 Points for 84.3 62.5 Points against 70.0 7.5 Rebound margin 8.0 -0.5 Turnover margin 5.3 47.6 FG pct. 48.4 43.9 3-pt pct. 40.3 73.2 FT pct. 70.4 CHALK TALK On Tuesday Arkansas will play either No. 10 Illinois or Cincinnati, which meet in tonight’s Hall of Fame Classic opener … The winners of tonight’s games will play in the second game Tuesday night with the losers meeting in the opener … Senior guard Chris Lykes is averaging 15.7 points off the bench for the Razorbacks after having a team-high 26 in their 93-80 victory over Northern Iowa on Wednesday night … Kansas State opened the season with victories over Florida A&M 67-57 and Nebraska-Omaha 79-54 at home … Arkansas is 6-6 in Kansas City, where the Razorbacks most recently played in the 1995 NCAA Midwest Regional when they beat Memphis 96-91 in overtime and Virginia 68-61 in Kemper Arena to advance to the Final Four … The Razorbacks last played Kansas State during the 1990-91 season when Arkansas won 70-61 at Manhattan, Kan.