Monday stat dive: I already broke down some film from Oklahoma and pointed out some glaring issues, but how are those issues manifesting statistically? Not great.
Arkansas is currently allowing opponents to shoot 35.0% from three. If that wasn’t bad enough, teams are taking a healthy amount of perimeter shots at 22.0 attempts per game. Two primary areas causing this? Allowing offensive rebounds and poor defense against screens.
I’ve harped on screen defense for a while now, weeks, actually, but it’s a major issue. There’s no consistency on how the team plays screens, there are miscommunications on hedging/recovering, players are getting caught or even purposefully going under screens when they should go over, etc. Those all lead to open looks either in the paint, or what has often happened, an drive and kick to the perimeter for an open three.
It’s just common basketball knowledge that one of the best times to get an open look for three is off an offensive rebound. The defense is out of position and in scramble mode and a simple pass to the perimeter can get an open look more often than not.
The Razorbacks are allowing 10.4 OREBs per game, which alone isn’t a terrible number, but it also isn’t good. Any extra opportunity is detrimental to a bad defensive team like Arkansas is right now, particularly if/when they lead to high percentage threes.
Arkansas still has more turnovers than assists on the season, while the inverse is true for opponents. The Razorbacks average just 11.8 assists per game, ranking near the bottom of the country, while also turning it over 12.1 times per game. That points to mental mistakes and a stagnant offense. There’s just too much isolation right now.
One perk to isolation offense, and when they actually run it, the pick and roll offense, is that they both generate a ton of rim looks and free throw attempts. Those should both be high quality shots, but while the Razorbacks are shooting 28.3 free throws per game, they’re making them at a 71.5% clip. Again, that’s not bad, necessarily, but is on pace to be the second lowest in the Musselman era, just above last year’s 69.8%. The two Elite Eight teams shot 74.0% and 76.0% from the FT line.
Are there other issues? Yes. But these are the most glaring in my opinion and can be easily fixed.
TL;DR: Defend screens better, prevent OREBs, more motion offense, and make more free throws.
Arkansas is currently allowing opponents to shoot 35.0% from three. If that wasn’t bad enough, teams are taking a healthy amount of perimeter shots at 22.0 attempts per game. Two primary areas causing this? Allowing offensive rebounds and poor defense against screens.
I’ve harped on screen defense for a while now, weeks, actually, but it’s a major issue. There’s no consistency on how the team plays screens, there are miscommunications on hedging/recovering, players are getting caught or even purposefully going under screens when they should go over, etc. Those all lead to open looks either in the paint, or what has often happened, an drive and kick to the perimeter for an open three.
It’s just common basketball knowledge that one of the best times to get an open look for three is off an offensive rebound. The defense is out of position and in scramble mode and a simple pass to the perimeter can get an open look more often than not.
The Razorbacks are allowing 10.4 OREBs per game, which alone isn’t a terrible number, but it also isn’t good. Any extra opportunity is detrimental to a bad defensive team like Arkansas is right now, particularly if/when they lead to high percentage threes.
Arkansas still has more turnovers than assists on the season, while the inverse is true for opponents. The Razorbacks average just 11.8 assists per game, ranking near the bottom of the country, while also turning it over 12.1 times per game. That points to mental mistakes and a stagnant offense. There’s just too much isolation right now.
One perk to isolation offense, and when they actually run it, the pick and roll offense, is that they both generate a ton of rim looks and free throw attempts. Those should both be high quality shots, but while the Razorbacks are shooting 28.3 free throws per game, they’re making them at a 71.5% clip. Again, that’s not bad, necessarily, but is on pace to be the second lowest in the Musselman era, just above last year’s 69.8%. The two Elite Eight teams shot 74.0% and 76.0% from the FT line.
Are there other issues? Yes. But these are the most glaring in my opinion and can be easily fixed.
TL;DR: Defend screens better, prevent OREBs, more motion offense, and make more free throws.
