Here are my key takeaways (plus a box score) from tonight's season-opening win over Mercer...
arkansas.rivals.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas found itself in yet another double-digit deficit Tuesday night, but used a big second half to rally past Mercer in its season opener.
Trailing by as many as 10 in the first half, the No. 16 Razorbacks came out on fire after halftime and eventually went on an 18-3 run to take control of things in a 74-61 win over the Bears inside Bud Walton Arena.
It was the kind of performance last year’s team was known for, as Arkansas went 10-5 in games it trailed by at least 10 points at any point - including all three wins in the NCAA Tournament.
Even with seven new pieces, that trend seems to have carried over to the current iteration of the Razorbacks early on, as they also had to dig out of a 14-point hole against DII East Central in an exhibition game.
JD Notae poured in 30 points, his most in an Arkansas uniform. ACC transfers Au’Diese Toney and Chris Lykes accounted for nearly the rest of the scoring, with the former notching a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds and the latter chipping in 16 points off the bench.
The Razorbacks opened the second half with a quick six points and ultimately needed just a little more than two minutes to regain the lead for what was the first of nine lead changes after halftime.
A corner three by Lykes put Arkansas up for good with 8:43 remaining, as it sparked the aforementioned 18-3 run. The Bears managed just seven points over the final nine minutes of the game.
Here are a few of HawgBeat’s key takeaways from the win…
Notae is more than an elite scorer.
Growing up about 45 minutes away from the campus, Notae regularly attended camps at Mercer when he was in high school. Despite that exposure, the Bears never pulled the trigger on an offer and he ended up at Jacksonville before transferring to Arkansas.
The senior made them pay for that oversight by scoring 30 points on 11 of 26 shooting - including 5 of 14 from beyond the arc. It was the most points he’s scored with the Razorbacks and the most he’s ever scored against a Division I opponent.
“They didn’t offer me coming out of high school, so that was kind of personal,” Notae said. “So this game is kind of personal to me.”
As important as that was, especially with several of his teammates struggling to score, Notae’s biggest impact came on the other end of the floor. His seven steals were the most by an Arkansas player since Ronnie Brewer also had seven against ULM on Dec. 31, 2004.
Six of those steals came after halftime and played a huge role in the Razorbacks’ comeback. Asked about the key to that success afterward, Notae mentioned it went back to preparation. He said he actually knew Mercer’s plays so well that he could beat its players to particular spots.
That didn’t come by accident and could be a trend for him throughout the season, based on what Musselman said in the postgame interview.
“Defensively, the reason he had seven (steals) is, No. 1, he's got great anticipation and is willing to fight through screens,” Musselman said. “But he also knows our game plan. If you ask him what we're doing, he's locked in on our game plan like an NBA player.”
Hogs could have another Sixth Man of the Year.
Last season, Notae was named the SEC Sixth Man of the Year after coming off the bench in 31 of 32 games and averaging 12.8 points.
It looks like he’ll be in the starting lineup this year, as he started and played all but 48 seconds against Mercer, so he won’t be a repeat winner, but the award could still end up staying in Arkansas.
An exciting player despite being just 5-foot-7, Lykes was a two-year starter at Miami (Fla.) and produced enough in the ACC that he has garnered preseason accolades with the Razorbacks, like landing on the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list.
However, it appears he’ll assume the role Notae vacated by providing a scoring punch off the bench. Lykes - who averaged 15.8 points over his last three years with the Hurricanes - finished with 16 points against the Bears, going 4 of 7 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the free throw line.
A big chunk of those points came during the critical 18-3 run that essentially sealed the victory for Arkansas. He was fouled shooting a three-pointer twice during that stretch and made 5 of 6 free throws, plus knocked down the three-pointer that started the stretch and made a couple of tough fast break layups, giving him 12 points in about a seven-minute span.
“I went to him and told him, like, 'Hey, last year, JD, I needed to look down there and feel that I had a spark and a punch if we got down,’” Musselman said. “That's how I feel about Chris. I think it's a good role for him as of right now. He's been willing to accept that role and embrace that role.”
Toney is an X-factor.
A double-double looks good in the box score, but even Toney’s 18-point, 11-rebound stat line doesn’t tell the full story of how well the Pitt transfer played Tuesday night.
It seemed like he was all over the floor as he swallowed up rebounds, which was an area the Razorbacks really struggled with in their last exhibition game against North Texas. That led to Musselman declaring he was the player of the game and that it was “not even close.”
“I thought he was phenomenal,” Notae said, echoing Musselman’s sentiment. “Every time there was a shot, he was right there and putting it back in.”
The fact that Toney was the game’s second-leading scorer is even more impressive when you consider the Razorbacks didn’t run many plays designed for him. Instead, his 7 of 9 shooting was the result of offensive rebounding, cutting to the basket and just generally playing hard.
Musselman said it was what he expected from Toney when he recruited him out of the portal, as Arkansas needed someone to replace all of the things Justin Smith did - which included things that don’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet.
“When we recruited him, we tried to look at what we were losing,” Musselman said. “Certainly I think if you watch tape of Au’Diese, he can really finish in transition, and some of the things he did at Pitt were some areas we felt we needed to fill Smith’s spot last year.”
Smith was an incredibly important piece to last year’s team that made it to the Elite Eight, so if Toney can replicate his impact this season, it bodes well for the Razorbacks.
HawgBeat - Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas' 74-61 win over Mercer
HawgBeat reveals the key takeaways from Arkansas' season-opening win over Mercer on Tuesday.
arkansas.rivals.com
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas found itself in yet another double-digit deficit Tuesday night, but used a big second half to rally past Mercer in its season opener.
Trailing by as many as 10 in the first half, the No. 16 Razorbacks came out on fire after halftime and eventually went on an 18-3 run to take control of things in a 74-61 win over the Bears inside Bud Walton Arena.
It was the kind of performance last year’s team was known for, as Arkansas went 10-5 in games it trailed by at least 10 points at any point - including all three wins in the NCAA Tournament.
Even with seven new pieces, that trend seems to have carried over to the current iteration of the Razorbacks early on, as they also had to dig out of a 14-point hole against DII East Central in an exhibition game.
JD Notae poured in 30 points, his most in an Arkansas uniform. ACC transfers Au’Diese Toney and Chris Lykes accounted for nearly the rest of the scoring, with the former notching a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds and the latter chipping in 16 points off the bench.
The Razorbacks opened the second half with a quick six points and ultimately needed just a little more than two minutes to regain the lead for what was the first of nine lead changes after halftime.
A corner three by Lykes put Arkansas up for good with 8:43 remaining, as it sparked the aforementioned 18-3 run. The Bears managed just seven points over the final nine minutes of the game.
Here are a few of HawgBeat’s key takeaways from the win…
Notae is more than an elite scorer.
Growing up about 45 minutes away from the campus, Notae regularly attended camps at Mercer when he was in high school. Despite that exposure, the Bears never pulled the trigger on an offer and he ended up at Jacksonville before transferring to Arkansas.
The senior made them pay for that oversight by scoring 30 points on 11 of 26 shooting - including 5 of 14 from beyond the arc. It was the most points he’s scored with the Razorbacks and the most he’s ever scored against a Division I opponent.
“They didn’t offer me coming out of high school, so that was kind of personal,” Notae said. “So this game is kind of personal to me.”
As important as that was, especially with several of his teammates struggling to score, Notae’s biggest impact came on the other end of the floor. His seven steals were the most by an Arkansas player since Ronnie Brewer also had seven against ULM on Dec. 31, 2004.
Six of those steals came after halftime and played a huge role in the Razorbacks’ comeback. Asked about the key to that success afterward, Notae mentioned it went back to preparation. He said he actually knew Mercer’s plays so well that he could beat its players to particular spots.
That didn’t come by accident and could be a trend for him throughout the season, based on what Musselman said in the postgame interview.
“Defensively, the reason he had seven (steals) is, No. 1, he's got great anticipation and is willing to fight through screens,” Musselman said. “But he also knows our game plan. If you ask him what we're doing, he's locked in on our game plan like an NBA player.”
Hogs could have another Sixth Man of the Year.
Last season, Notae was named the SEC Sixth Man of the Year after coming off the bench in 31 of 32 games and averaging 12.8 points.
It looks like he’ll be in the starting lineup this year, as he started and played all but 48 seconds against Mercer, so he won’t be a repeat winner, but the award could still end up staying in Arkansas.
An exciting player despite being just 5-foot-7, Lykes was a two-year starter at Miami (Fla.) and produced enough in the ACC that he has garnered preseason accolades with the Razorbacks, like landing on the Naismith Trophy preseason watch list.
However, it appears he’ll assume the role Notae vacated by providing a scoring punch off the bench. Lykes - who averaged 15.8 points over his last three years with the Hurricanes - finished with 16 points against the Bears, going 4 of 7 from the floor and 7 of 8 from the free throw line.
A big chunk of those points came during the critical 18-3 run that essentially sealed the victory for Arkansas. He was fouled shooting a three-pointer twice during that stretch and made 5 of 6 free throws, plus knocked down the three-pointer that started the stretch and made a couple of tough fast break layups, giving him 12 points in about a seven-minute span.
“I went to him and told him, like, 'Hey, last year, JD, I needed to look down there and feel that I had a spark and a punch if we got down,’” Musselman said. “That's how I feel about Chris. I think it's a good role for him as of right now. He's been willing to accept that role and embrace that role.”
Toney is an X-factor.
A double-double looks good in the box score, but even Toney’s 18-point, 11-rebound stat line doesn’t tell the full story of how well the Pitt transfer played Tuesday night.
It seemed like he was all over the floor as he swallowed up rebounds, which was an area the Razorbacks really struggled with in their last exhibition game against North Texas. That led to Musselman declaring he was the player of the game and that it was “not even close.”
“I thought he was phenomenal,” Notae said, echoing Musselman’s sentiment. “Every time there was a shot, he was right there and putting it back in.”
The fact that Toney was the game’s second-leading scorer is even more impressive when you consider the Razorbacks didn’t run many plays designed for him. Instead, his 7 of 9 shooting was the result of offensive rebounding, cutting to the basket and just generally playing hard.
Musselman said it was what he expected from Toney when he recruited him out of the portal, as Arkansas needed someone to replace all of the things Justin Smith did - which included things that don’t necessarily show up on the stat sheet.
“When we recruited him, we tried to look at what we were losing,” Musselman said. “Certainly I think if you watch tape of Au’Diese, he can really finish in transition, and some of the things he did at Pitt were some areas we felt we needed to fill Smith’s spot last year.”
Smith was an incredibly important piece to last year’s team that made it to the Elite Eight, so if Toney can replicate his impact this season, it bodes well for the Razorbacks.
