FAYETTEVILLE -- Jaylin Williams, the Arkansas Razorbacks' 6-10 sophomore, will go against Georgia 6-11 senior Braelen Bridges tonight in Stegeman Coliseum, but Bulldogs Coach Tom Crean said his players need to play good team defense.
"I don't think it's a matchup as much as you have to have a team of guys to be able to guard Jaylin," Crean said. "He's shooting the threes, making the passes, playing the post.
"He's playing at an extremely high level. He's playing with a lot of confidence. Braelen is as well."
'D' direction
The Razorbacks' six-game winning streak has been largely built on stronger defense.
Prior to the six-game run, Arkansas opponents were averaging 44% field-goal shooting overall and 36.6% shooting from three-point range.
Those figures ranked 250th and 314th, respectively, among the 350 Division I schools and certainly not in the mode of teams coached by Eric Musselman.
During the six-game stretch, Arkansas opponents have made 120 of 339 field goals, for a 35.4% clip. Three-point shooting by, in order, Missouri, LSU, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Ole Miss and West Virginia, was 33 of 128, for 25.8%.
Heading into the Georgia game, the Razorbacks rank 106th in field goal defense (41.6%) and 211th in three-point field goal defense (33.8%). That's an improvement of 144 spots in field goal defense and 103 spots in three-point defense in a matter of three weeks.
Ga. Razorbacks
There should be plenty of Arkansas fans at tonight's game considering all of the Razorbacks' Georgia connections.
Arkansas senior guard JD Notae is from Covington, Ga., senior forward Trey Wade is from Marietta, Ga., and freshman guard Chance Moore is from Brookhaven, Ga.
Razorbacks Coach Eric Musselman's wife, Danyelle, is from Atlanta, and several of her family members will be in attendance as well.
Four more
Arkansas senior Au'Diese Toney, a transfer from Pittsburgh, needs four points to reach 1,000 for his career. He scored a team-high 19 points on Saturday against West Virginia to give him 996.
Big playbook
Georgia Coach Tom Crean said there's plenty to prepare for when playing Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman.
"Eric is going to throw a lot of things at you," Crean said. "He's an outstanding coach. Always has been.
"When you're coaching against him, it's not only what you see on film, but you have to go a little deeper and go, 'OK, what could we see?'
"Because he's got such a vast playbook offensively, and defensively, and he's such a game-plan coach. Bottom line is he can utilize his guys in a lot of different ways."
Inside the series
Arkansas has a 24-16 advantage in the overall series but trails 10-6 in games played at Georgia.
The Razorbacks have won four of the last five and seven of the last nine against the Bulldogs. Three of the last 10 meetings have gone into overtime, including the Razorbacks' 80-77 win in double overtime in Athens, Ga., on Jan. 12, 2018.
Arkansas thumped the Bulldogs 99-69 Jan. 9, 2021, at Walton Arena behind 25 points from Moses Moody, 20 points from Davonte Davis and 52.2% shooting. The Razorbacks outscored their visitors 56-32 in the second half.
Stat update
The Razorbacks trail Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by just two made three throws in the race to lead the nation in that category.
The Islanders (16-6) have made 370 free throws (in 494 attempts) in their 22 games, while Arkansas has hit 368 (of 493) in 21 games. The Razorbacks are second in the SEC and 70th in Division I with 74.6% free throw shooting. In the SEC, they trail only Georgia, which is making 74.8% of its free throws.
Arkansas is third in the nation in free throws attempted, tailing Iona (510) and the Islanders in that category.
The Razorbacks' worst statistical category, by far, is three-point accuracy, a 29.6% rate that ranks 13th in the SEC and 325th among 350 Division I schools.
Streaking
Arkansas is one of four SEC teams riding a winning streak of more than one game. No. 1 Auburn leads the way with a 17-game winning streak, followed by the Razorbacks at 6 games, South Carolina at 3 and Kentucky at 2.
Alabama, Florida, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are on one-game winning streaks, while the other six SEC teams are on losing streaks.
Stegeman stall
Georgia fans have not been inspired by this season's Bulldogs under fourth-year Coach Tom Crean. The Bulldogs have averaged 6,630 fans for 13 home dates.
That total represents the fourth-lowest attendance average in the SEC, ahead of only Ole Miss (6,519), Texas A&M (6,387) and Vanderbilt (6,171).
Arkansas is averaging 18,878 at Walton Arena, the second-highest total in the conference behind Kentucky's 19,030 average at Rupp Arena and ahead of third-place Tennessee's 17,234 at Thompson-Boling Arena. The Wildcats, Razorbacks and Volunteers join Alabama (11,159) and LSU (10,690) as the only SEC teams averaging better than 10,000 fans per game.
Crean's history
Georgia Coach Tom Crean was inducted in the Marquette University Hall of Fame on Jan. 23. Crean compiled a 190-96 record in nine seasons and led Marquette to the 2003 NCAA Final Four, the Warriors' first appearance there since 1977. Crean recruited five All-Americans at Marquette, led by NBA standout Dwayne Wade.
Crean, who has a 47-64 record in his fourth season at Georgia, was also 166-135 in nine seasons at Indiana, which featured three appearances in the NCAA Sweet 16.