Here are @jacksoncollier's key takeaways from last night's ugly loss to Hofstra...
arkansas.rivals.com
NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- Back in central Arkansas for the first time in two years, Arkansas met a disappointing outcome against Hofstra.
The No. 24 Razorbacks led for just 43 seconds and trailed by as many as 14 points en route to an 89-81 loss to the Pride inside Simmons Bank Arena.
With the loss, Arkansas is now just 12-10 since it started playing games at the North Little Rock venue in 1999 and four of those losses have been to mid- or low-major foes: Appalachian State (2007), UAB (2010), Mercer (2015) and now Hofstra (2021).
Playing without their leading scorer, the Pride were led by a near triple-double from Aaron Estrada. The Oregon transfer finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, while former Arkansas player Abayomi Iyiola notched a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds against his former team.
The Razorbacks rallied late, with a Davonte Davis free throw cutting the Hofstra lead to two with just 4:53 to go in the game. The central Arkansas crowd was fired up and tried its best to will the Razorbacks to a comeback victory, but they fell short.
Hofstra answered with an 8-0 run to push its lead back to 10, 74-64, with just 2:36 to play. The rest of the game was back and forth, with both teams hitting shots and the deficit staying between 8 and 13 points.
"In the seven years I’ve been coaching, that’s the most disappointing from a competitive nature that I’ve ever coached a team, in seven years in college," head coach Eric Musselman said. "Even last year’s two losses. Both of these games, I’m disappointed in how we’ve played in a lot of different facets.”
It was Arkansas' second straight loss after a 9-0 start and it marked Hofstra's first win over an AP top-25 team since 1976.
Here are some key takeaways from the game...
Perimeter Defense
Once again, perimeter defense was a major issue for the Razorbacks, but this time it wasn’t only allowing outside shots. Although Hofstra shot just 7 of 22 (31.8%) from three, the problem was allowing guards to drive at will.
Hofstra scored 44 points in the paint, seemingly most of which came from straight-line drives to the basket or a pass to the post after help came. That was a major factor in Iyiola scoring his 18 points.
"We didn't keep anybody in front of us," Musselman said. "In basketball, you've got to be able to slide your feet.”
An extension to perimeter defense is just overall defensive awareness – or lack thereof. In a standard man defense, different guards would be in position like they were four passes away, but were only two passes away.
That just means that they were too deep and too far over from where they should be, making recovering to their man much longer. That leaves opponents open for open shots and easier drives if there is a running contest.
“At the end of the day, we are supposed (to be) on that blue line in the middle of the court," Chris Lykes said. "So they got some rolls down the middle of the paint. Like you said, we were emphasizing on them not shooting threes (and) 7 for 22 isn’t bad, but at the same time, we gave up too many points in the paint and some rebounds, too.”
Additionally, there were a few times when a Hofstra player just simply cut behind the defense seemingly without anyone noticing, received a pass and made an easy layup.
Iyiola’s Big Day
Facing his former team, the player known as "Baybe" had a field day.
According to HogStats, Baybe is the 10th former Arkansas player to play the Razorbacks with another team. Only Missouri’s Byron Irvin in 1988 (25 points) scored more than his 18 points Saturday night and only Memphis’ Sunday Adebayo in 1997 (15 rebounds) had more than his 14 rebounds.
Iyiola also became the third former Razorback to put up a double-double against Arkansas. The first two were Adebayo (15 points, 15 rebounds) and North Texas’ Keenan DeBose in 1987 (17 points, 12 rebounds).
"I thought he (Iyiola) outplayed every guy on our roster," Musselman said about Iyiola's performance. "All you have to do is pick up the stat sheet."
In addition to the stats that show up in the box score, Iyiola also drew two charges Saturday.
New Starting Lineup
Saturday’s starting lineup featured KK Robinson and Stanley Umude in place of Connor Vanover and JD Notae.
There had been rumors that Robinson would start – and those held true – but he played only 2 minutes and 20 seconds in the first half and finished the game with just 3.5 total minutes despite having 4 assists and zero turnovers and knocking down a three late in the game.
“We’ve been searching for point guard play," Musselman said. "I tried to search again tonight. So now, all of a sudden we go back to struggling with rebounding. We’re turning the ball over too much. We lack shooting. There’s a lot of things that we’ve got to continue to try to work on, and then you add in how competitive you are, now you end up with two losses in a row.”
While Robinson did not turn the ball over and had the second-best plus-minus on the team at plus-2, Umude got a lot of run against Hofstra and was a team-worst minus-16.
The South Dakota transfer played 29 minutes and scored 6 points, while also adding 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. He led a mini-run by himself that saw him have a block, breakaway layup, and then another steal that eventually led to a Hog basket midway through the second half.
While Vanover did not see the floor, Notae played in his normal role despite coming off the bench. He started the second half and played 32 total minutes, second only to Au’Diese Toney’s 37, and scored 20 points on 8 of 16 shooting, including 4 of 9 from three. However, he also had six turnovers.
Outside Shooting Improvement
If most fans saw only Arkansas’ outside shooting performance, they might think Arkansas ran away with the game. The Razorbacks shot much better than their season average from beyond the arc, going 12 of 31 (38.7%). Jaxson Robinson led the way shooting at 3- of 4, with Lykes and Notae both going 4 of 9.
Outside of those three, though, Arkansas combined for 1 of 9 from outside - the one make coming from KK Robinson.
(STORY CONTINUES IN NEXT POST)
HawgBeat - Key takeaways, box score from Arkansas 89-81 loss to Hofstra
HawgBeat has all the key takeaways from Arkansas' disappointing loss to Hofstra on Saturday.
arkansas.rivals.com
NORTH LITTLE ROCK -- Back in central Arkansas for the first time in two years, Arkansas met a disappointing outcome against Hofstra.
The No. 24 Razorbacks led for just 43 seconds and trailed by as many as 14 points en route to an 89-81 loss to the Pride inside Simmons Bank Arena.
With the loss, Arkansas is now just 12-10 since it started playing games at the North Little Rock venue in 1999 and four of those losses have been to mid- or low-major foes: Appalachian State (2007), UAB (2010), Mercer (2015) and now Hofstra (2021).
Playing without their leading scorer, the Pride were led by a near triple-double from Aaron Estrada. The Oregon transfer finished with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists, while former Arkansas player Abayomi Iyiola notched a double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds against his former team.
The Razorbacks rallied late, with a Davonte Davis free throw cutting the Hofstra lead to two with just 4:53 to go in the game. The central Arkansas crowd was fired up and tried its best to will the Razorbacks to a comeback victory, but they fell short.
Hofstra answered with an 8-0 run to push its lead back to 10, 74-64, with just 2:36 to play. The rest of the game was back and forth, with both teams hitting shots and the deficit staying between 8 and 13 points.
"In the seven years I’ve been coaching, that’s the most disappointing from a competitive nature that I’ve ever coached a team, in seven years in college," head coach Eric Musselman said. "Even last year’s two losses. Both of these games, I’m disappointed in how we’ve played in a lot of different facets.”
It was Arkansas' second straight loss after a 9-0 start and it marked Hofstra's first win over an AP top-25 team since 1976.
Here are some key takeaways from the game...
Perimeter Defense
Once again, perimeter defense was a major issue for the Razorbacks, but this time it wasn’t only allowing outside shots. Although Hofstra shot just 7 of 22 (31.8%) from three, the problem was allowing guards to drive at will.
Hofstra scored 44 points in the paint, seemingly most of which came from straight-line drives to the basket or a pass to the post after help came. That was a major factor in Iyiola scoring his 18 points.
"We didn't keep anybody in front of us," Musselman said. "In basketball, you've got to be able to slide your feet.”
An extension to perimeter defense is just overall defensive awareness – or lack thereof. In a standard man defense, different guards would be in position like they were four passes away, but were only two passes away.
That just means that they were too deep and too far over from where they should be, making recovering to their man much longer. That leaves opponents open for open shots and easier drives if there is a running contest.
“At the end of the day, we are supposed (to be) on that blue line in the middle of the court," Chris Lykes said. "So they got some rolls down the middle of the paint. Like you said, we were emphasizing on them not shooting threes (and) 7 for 22 isn’t bad, but at the same time, we gave up too many points in the paint and some rebounds, too.”
Additionally, there were a few times when a Hofstra player just simply cut behind the defense seemingly without anyone noticing, received a pass and made an easy layup.
Iyiola’s Big Day
Facing his former team, the player known as "Baybe" had a field day.
According to HogStats, Baybe is the 10th former Arkansas player to play the Razorbacks with another team. Only Missouri’s Byron Irvin in 1988 (25 points) scored more than his 18 points Saturday night and only Memphis’ Sunday Adebayo in 1997 (15 rebounds) had more than his 14 rebounds.
Iyiola also became the third former Razorback to put up a double-double against Arkansas. The first two were Adebayo (15 points, 15 rebounds) and North Texas’ Keenan DeBose in 1987 (17 points, 12 rebounds).
"I thought he (Iyiola) outplayed every guy on our roster," Musselman said about Iyiola's performance. "All you have to do is pick up the stat sheet."
In addition to the stats that show up in the box score, Iyiola also drew two charges Saturday.
New Starting Lineup
Saturday’s starting lineup featured KK Robinson and Stanley Umude in place of Connor Vanover and JD Notae.
There had been rumors that Robinson would start – and those held true – but he played only 2 minutes and 20 seconds in the first half and finished the game with just 3.5 total minutes despite having 4 assists and zero turnovers and knocking down a three late in the game.
“We’ve been searching for point guard play," Musselman said. "I tried to search again tonight. So now, all of a sudden we go back to struggling with rebounding. We’re turning the ball over too much. We lack shooting. There’s a lot of things that we’ve got to continue to try to work on, and then you add in how competitive you are, now you end up with two losses in a row.”
While Robinson did not turn the ball over and had the second-best plus-minus on the team at plus-2, Umude got a lot of run against Hofstra and was a team-worst minus-16.
The South Dakota transfer played 29 minutes and scored 6 points, while also adding 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. He led a mini-run by himself that saw him have a block, breakaway layup, and then another steal that eventually led to a Hog basket midway through the second half.
While Vanover did not see the floor, Notae played in his normal role despite coming off the bench. He started the second half and played 32 total minutes, second only to Au’Diese Toney’s 37, and scored 20 points on 8 of 16 shooting, including 4 of 9 from three. However, he also had six turnovers.
Outside Shooting Improvement
If most fans saw only Arkansas’ outside shooting performance, they might think Arkansas ran away with the game. The Razorbacks shot much better than their season average from beyond the arc, going 12 of 31 (38.7%). Jaxson Robinson led the way shooting at 3- of 4, with Lykes and Notae both going 4 of 9.
Outside of those three, though, Arkansas combined for 1 of 9 from outside - the one make coming from KK Robinson.
(STORY CONTINUES IN NEXT POST)
