Tag: Devo Davis

Streak snapped: Arkansas beats Florida in Gainesville for first time since 1995

Arkansas beat Florida in Gainesville for the second time in school history for its 12th win in its last 13 games.

Eric Musselman chose not to sit his best forward, Jaylin Williams, when the big man picked up his fourth foul with 7:57 left. He needed him on the court.

He was right.

Williams sank a 3-pointer three possessions to move Arkansas ahead after that foul and hit a lay-up to give Arkansas a five-point lead with 2:57 left and the Razorbacks never trailed again, beating Florida, 82-74, and snapping a 14-game losing streak in Gainesville in the process.

Florida pulled back within a point with 1:27 left when Colin Castleton set a career high with his 27th point with a bucket in the paint. On the next possession, JD Notae buried a 3 from the wing to all but ice the game as Arkansas finished things off from the free-throw line.

Castleton led all scorers with 29 points and he grabbed six rebounds. Notae led Arkansas with 22 points. Williams had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Devo Davis (18), Au’Diese Toney (12) and Stanley Umude (11) also scored in double figures.

Arkansas hadn’t beaten Florida in Gainesville since 1995, the year the Razorbacks played in the national title game against UCLA.

The win is Arkansas’ 12th in its last 13 games. The Hogs have three regular-season games remaining with the next coming on Saturday at home against Kentucky.

Beyond the Box: Reborn on the Bayou

If the 2021-22 Razorbacks make another magically run deep into March, we may all look back to this game at Baton Rouge as the turning point.

If the 2021-22 Razorbacks make another magical run deep into March, we may all look back to this game at Baton Rouge as the turning point. It was the type of gritty road win you’d expect from a good team. It’s a unifying event that could signal the turning of a corner for a team that still has time to put it all together. And it was all done with its head coach back in Fayetteville recovering from surgery.

Assistant coach Keith Smart took over game day operations and rose to the moment just like he’s done in the past. No, it wasn’t a clutch jumper in a championship game. But he was cool under pressure after LSU built an 8-point lead with 8:00 to play, and that attitude clearly rubbed off on his team.

As usual, we will take a look here at a few things that jump out from the game that you won’t see in the standard box score.

Beyond the Box: Arkansas out of sync and running out of time

Once upon a time Arkansas was considered a potential No. 2 or No. 3 seed.

In the span of a month the Arkansas Razorbacks fans have gone from arguing about whether or not this basketball team should be a No. 2 or a No. 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament to wondering if they’ll even finish with a winning record in the SEC.

In some ways Saturday’s loss at Texas A&M is a reflection of that idea. The Hogs started hot, building an 11-point lead early. Nine minutes into the second half they were down, 65-48, looking lifeless and interested in anything other than basketball.

Then the “old” Hogs showed up, storming back to cut the Aggies lead to just one point with 1:08 to play. But it was all too much. Two made free throws by a 56% shooter, a missed jumper from JD Notae, and a boneheaded lane violation from Devo Davis squashed the comeback.

Here are a few things that stand out from Saturday afternoon that you won’t see on the basic stat sheet.

Why Arkansas basketball can still make the NCAA Tournament

Arkansas basketball has the talent and the coaching to turn its season around and make the Big Dance.

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December was a cruel, cold month for the Arkansas basketball team. Spring, however, to steal and modify a phrase, is coming.

ESPN’s Bracketology dropped the Razorbacks from the predicted teams to make the NCAA Tournament with its latest update on Friday. And per the network’s Basketball Power Index, Arkansas faces long odds to return. Of 18 games the Hogs have remaining, 10 come against teams ranked inside the Top 30. Seven are against teams inside the Top 20.

By no means, though, is Arkansas out of it.

Coach Eric Musselman is known for taking lemons and turning them into lemonade. And it’s not as though Arkansas’ team in 2021-22 is actually that much of a lemon. They started the year 9-0 and were ranked inside the Top 10. Weaknesses were evident through those nine victories and Musselman even said as much. But what allowed nine straight wins was talent.

Arkansas has the talent. Even if it has yet to gel, more than half the season remains.

Guard JD Notae is still the second leading scorer in the SEC. Stanley Umude, Au’Diese Toney and Chris Lykes are still players who averaged double figures at their previous schools of South Dakota, Pittsburgh and Miami (FL). Devo Davis is still the player who broke out in last year’s NCAA Tournament. Jaylin Williams is still one of the best point-forwards in the sport.

And Musselman is still a coach who led a mish-mash collection of Razorbacks to the Elite Eight in 2020-21.

The margin for error is slim. Arkansas cannot afford to drop games against teams it is better than. Starting Tuesday when Vanderbilt visits Bud Walton Arena, the Razorbacks have to win. They don’t have to make a statement in that win, necessarily, but they must come out on top. The road is too tough to hoe going forward.

Follow that with a road victory at Texas A&M, an Aggies team, by the way, nipping at the heels of the Hogs in the power index. Beat a bad Missouri team back in Fayetteville after that and suddenly the Razorbacks are 3-1 in the SEC with a chance to visit Baton Rouge and knock off an LSU team that’s all but a lock for the Dance.

That sort of stretch is all that’s required to get the Hogs back into the hunt. Sure, it ignores the last month of the season and all the difficulty it will bring. But winning begets winning and if Arkansas can string together some in the early weeks of the new year, then things are far from over.

Behind the box score: Giveaways and glass haunt Arkansas in loss

Mississippi State outplayed Arkansas in nearly every statistic on Wednesday.

Teams that are short-handed don’t have a lot of room for error.

Arkansas was both short-handed and error-prone against Mississippi State in both teams’ SEC opener on Wednesday, falling 81-68.

The Razorbacks were without leading scorer JD Notae and forward Kamani Johnson. The school announced before the game that Notae would miss because of illness and Johnson was indefinitely suspended because of an undisclosed reason.

The game against the Bulldogs likely would have been a bit different with them.

Instead, Arkansas struggled on the glass, where Johnson would have helped, and struggled with turnovers and getting to the free-throw line, where Notae would have helped.

Mississippi State’s win was its seventh in its last eight games against Arkansas. The Razorbacks return to Bud Walton Arena on Tuesday to host Vanderbilt.

Here are five reasons behind the box score for Arkansas’ loss on Wednesday.

Turnovers doom out-of-sync Arkansas in loss to Mississippi State

Short-handed Razorbacks falter in second half, drop SEC opener to Mississippi State.

Lacking its best player and one of its top big men, Arkansas was in no position to open SEC play with a win.

Mississippi State took advantage of a short-handed Razorbacks squad and won both teams’ SEC openers, 81-68, on Wednesday evening in Starkville.

Arkansas (10-3, 0-1 in SEC) announced minutes before the game that guard JD Notae, the team’s leading scorer (second in the SEC) would miss the game because of an undisclosed illness. The team also announced Kamani Johnson, who had his best game of the season last time out against Elon, was indefinitely suspended from the team. No reason was given.

The Razorbacks looked disheveled without them. Mississippi State (10-3, 1-0) won nearly every meaningful statistic and took away Arkansas’ strength of getting to the inside on offense. Without Notae, Arkansas forced the issue, committing 17 turnovers, which led to 25 Mississippi State points.

Arkansas entered the game allowing opponents to grab about seven offensive rebounds a game, the best mark in the SEC. But without Johnson on the interior, the Bulldogs racked up 15 offensive boards. Tolu Smith was especially dominant on the interior, scoring 18 points and getting six rebounds.

Shakeel Moore, Iverson Molinar and D.J. Jeffries joined Smith in double figures with 16, 15 and 10 points, respectively.

Stanley Umude led Arkansas in scoring with 19. Devo Davis added 15 points and Chris Lykes had 10.

Arkansas returns to Bud Walton Arena to start SEC play at home on Tuesday against Vanderbilt.

Behind the box score: Hogs’ struggles are very real

Arkansas’ problems aren’t just limited to a lack of defending the 3 and shooting the 3 themselves anymore.

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman is waiting. Arkansas fans are waiting.

But through 11 games, little has changed with the Razorbacks. The excuse, which is legitimate, that the Razorbacks, with their six new rotation players, need time to gel is running short on time. SEC play begins December 29 against Mississippi State and the issues linger.

Arkansas fell Saturday night in North Little Rock to Hofstra, a team picked fifth in the Colonial Athletic Association, 89-81. The Hogs were outplayed in almost every facet, much like they were last time out against Oklahoma in a 22-point loss.

Arkansas had opened the season with 10 straight wins, but with two losses in a row, it will not find itself ranked when the polls are released Monday.

So what went wrong against the Pride? Almost everything. But here are five key takeaways.

Behind the box score: Hogs’ two best players lead the charge against Little Rock

Arkansas had a number of impressive ways to get past Little Rock on Saturday.

Arkansas dismantled Little Rock on Saturday, 93-78, with a number of Razorbacks players contributing.

The visiting Trojans were making their first-ever trip to Bud Walton Arena and were clearly the inferior of the two teams. Arkansas coach Eric Musselman mixed up his usual rotations in favor of some new looks and the Hogs made it work.

Little Rock, which was picked to finished middle of the Sun Belt pack, simply had no answer for Arkansas’ size and speed. Five Hogs players scored in double figures led by Au’Diese Toney, who had 16 of his 18 in the first half, and JD Notae, who had 16 of his 18 in the second half.

Stanley Umude, Devo Davis and Chris Lykes also scored in double figures for the Razorbacks.

Central Arkansas zero match for the Razorbacks in Arkansas’ blowout win

Arkansas had its biggest blowout win over the year Wednesday night, beating Central Arkansas 97-60.

Finally.

After a few easy-but-not-too-easy wins at Bud Walton Arena this season, No. 9 Arkansas achieved its first true blowout of the season, beating Central Arkansas 97-60 on Wednesday night.

Stanley Umude scored 17 points off the bench to lead four Razorbacks in double figures. Devo Davis netted a season-high 16 points, Au’Diese Toney scored 14 of his 16 in the second half and JD Notae had 10 points, giving him double-figures scoring in each of Arkansas’ first seven games.

UCA troubled the Razorbacks a bit for a half behind the strength of 7-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. But 14 second-half turnovers, and 25 in the game, led to 29 Arkansas points off those miscues and an 11-3 run to start the second and a 13-0 run later in the half all but finished things.

Fayetteville High graduate Collin Cooper led the Bears with 13 points and former Razorbacks forward Darious Hall added another 12.

Arkansas next plays at home on Saturday against another team from the Natural State: Little Rock. Tip is set for 3 p.m.

Behind the box score: Vanover, Davis, Notae – the returners – lead the way against Gardner-Webb

The numbers tell only part of the story in Arkansas’ 86-69 win over Gardner-Webb.

A 27-5 run late in the first half was plenty for Arkansas to defeat Gardner-Webb on Saturday at Bud Walton Arena, 86-69.

The Razorbacks received scoring from up and down the roster, outrebounded the Runnin’ Bulldogs, committed fewer turnovers and handled, all the way around, the visitors from North Carolina.

It was a positive step for a team that struggled for 30 of the 40 minutes against Mercer in the season opener Tuesday night. Arkansas’ players looked more comfortable with each other and the Hogs showcased a roster that can go 11 deep with relative ease.

Games are more than box scores, though. Here’s what to take away from the numbers as No. 15 Arkansas looks ahead to its next game, Wednesday against Northern Iowa.