HawgBeat - Takeaways, notes, stats from Arkansas' 88-65 loss to UConn
HawgBeat provides takeaways, notes, quotes, stats, efficiency ratings and more from Arkansas' Sweet 16 loss to UConn.
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The 8-seed Arkansas Razorbacks saw their season come to an end following an 88-65 loss to the 4-seed UConn Huskies in the Sweet 16 on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
From the start, the Huskies did what they wanted in the paint and their defensive game plan worked to perfection against an overpowered Arkansas team.
Here's HawgBeat's takeaways from the game, including notes, quotes, stats, observations, efficiency ratings and much more:
Dominated in the paint
From the start, UConn was proving to be much more capable in the post. The Huskies drove to the basket with ease and were regularly denying any Arkansas attempt to get down low.
By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the Huskies led 22-9 one the boards and they were outscoring the Razorbacks by 12 in the paint.
Arkansas was forced to take uncomfortable shots, resulting in it shooting 33.3% from the field in the first half. On the contrary, the Huskies found themselves in plenty of space often and they shot a whopping 60.7% from the field in the first 20 minutes.
"We knew we had to come out real fast on them," UConn guard Jordan Hawkins said. "They're a really physical team, but we had to come out with a first punch. That's how you come out with teams like that. That's what we did. We jumped out to an early lead, and just continued playing physical, crashing the glass."
The Huskies ended up out-rebounding the Razorbacks 43-31 and they outscored the Hogs by 18 in the paint. UConn was 14-of-20 on layups compared to Arkansas' 9-of-20.
UConn's 42.3 offensive rebounding percentage was the fourth best of any Razorback opponent this season, according to KenPom. The Huskies also held the Hogs to their worst 2-point percentage of the season — 31.9%.
"We didn't get any clean looks, obviously," Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said. "The shooting percentage, you can go down the line. 1-of-10, 1-of-5, 1-of-4, 0-for-2, 0-for-3. They're a really good defensive team. You have to tip your hat off to them. But not a good combination when you're not shooting the ball or converting from the field. And then the other team is shooting at a 60 percent clip and is making 3s."
As Musselman mentioned, his team's bad offensive showing paired with UConn shooting 57.4% from the field in the game was a recipe for disaster.
Stars shine for Huskies
Arkansas is known for being able to limit the opponent's best player under Musselman, but UConn's stars shined on Thursday. First team All-Big East players Adama Sanogo and Jordan Hawkins were met with little defensive answer from the Hogs.
Sanogo bullied his way inside whenever he wanted and he scored 18 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field while also grabbing eight boards and blockings a pair of shots.
Hawkins led all scorers with 24 points and he added two rebounds and three assists. He hit three of the Huskies' nine 3-pointers, most of which were devastating for an Arkansas team trying to climb back into it for what felt like the whole game.
"We came into the game thinking that we had to hold them to five or less 3s and they made nine, like you said, in the first 28 minutes or whatever," Musselman said. "And Hawkins is as good a shooter as we've played all year. He rises up over people. He moves without the ball really well.
"To me, the most impressive thing is that they had 22 assists. We tried to cause turnovers and rush the quarterback, but 22 assists is a lot of assists. I know we caused 17 turnovers, but they got inside game, two great centers. They have great perimeter shooting."
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