The No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks pulled away from Pacific late on Monday night to secure a 91-72 win to push their record to 3-1 on the young season.
The game was closer than what the final score indicated, as the Hogs only held a two-point advantage midway through the second half, but they used a strong defensive effort to thwart any kind of upset bid the Tigers had.
Head coach John Calipari's squad had limited depth in the game, as center Jonas Aidoo and forward Trevon Brazile didn't suit up, and only seven players saw the floor.
HawgBeat hands out the grades for those who did play on Monday night...
Johnell Davis: C-
It's been a slow start for Davis, who was highly-coveted coming out of the transfer portal from Florida Atlantic. He finished the game with eight points and had two threes in the game, but it's clear he's still not playing at the level that fans expected of him early on so far.Part of that is due to the fact that he's dealt with injuries over the offseason, so it's possible he's still starting to shake the rust off. He was active on the glass as he finished with six rebounds, but he spent a lot of the game camped out in the corner when he needs to be more involved in the offensive gameplan.
D.J. Wagner: B
Wagner scored a season-high 14 points with two threes on Monday night, which was a welcome sight after he went scoreless against Troy last week. He would have had a third three-pointer, but the officials ruled he had a foot on the line and it was converted to a two.With the aforementioned Davis struggling to get going on the offensive end so far, Wagner will need to continue his strong play and put in similar performances down the stretch of the season.
Boogie Fland: A-
Fland was efficient scoring the ball as he finished with 20 points on 60% shooting (6-of-10) from the field, and was, as he's been in most games this season, really strong in on-ball defense, with four steals, which was tied with Thiero for a game-high.
The freshman out of New York started the game strong with two steals right off the bat that led to runout scores on the other end, and facilitated an offense that shot 59.6% from the field and 42.9% from three.
Adou Thiero: A+
KenPom gave Thiero the team MVP for Monday's game, and for good reason. The third-year player finished with a team-high 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and also had four steals and six rebounds.
ALSO READ: Adou Thiero continues to impress in early season
Thiero was active in every facet of the game and was a disruptor when Pacific kept scoring to stay in the game. He got to flash his athleticism on some high-flying dunks and was a consistent presence on the floor for the Hogs.
Zvonimir Ivisic: C-
Big Z did some good things on Monday, but he also had some head-scratching moments as well. He finished with 15 points and knocked down two threes, but also had the biggest blemish on the box score with seven turnovers.Still, he had three blocks and made things difficult down low for Pacific, so it's hard to give him a failing grade on account of the high amount of turnovers, but the Hogs will need more efficient play overall from the Croatian Sensation moving forward.
Karter Knox: C
An already-shorthanded Arkansas roster almost got even more shorthanded after Knox appeared to injure his hand, but he returned to the game and finished with two points, three rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes of action.Knox didn't do anything too terrible, but he also didn't do anything spectacular either, and going up against a Pacific team that didn't look all too athletic heading into the game, it was a little disappointing to see him not take advantage. He's still just a freshman though, and there's a lot of time for him to break out.
Billy Richmond: B+
Heading into the season, there wasn't a lot of talk about Richmond. The former four-star was a needed spark plug off the bench and scored a season-high nine points in the win, including this and-one that helped the Hogs withstand a Tigers comeback bid midway through the the second half.
Like Knox, Richmond is still just a freshman and his ceiling is high if he can continue to develop and produce like this moving forward. He only played 23 minutes in the game, which was second-least ahead of only Knox, but he made the most of the opportunity he was given.
