COLUMBIA — The Arkansas Razorbacks (11-7, 0-5 SEC) saw their losing streak extend to five games after an 83-65 loss to the Missouri Tigers (15-3, 4-1 SEC) on Saturday in at Mizzou Arena.
The Razorbacks actually scored the first bucket of the game off a slam dunk from center Jonas Aidoo, but surrendered 18 straight points to the Tigers, who cruised to an easy win at home.
Arkansas big man Zvonimir Ivisic finished the game as the team's leading scorer with 14 points and he also brought in 10 rebounds to log a double-double.
Speaking of rebounds, the Hogs also lost the battle on the boards for the fifth-straight game, as Missouri out-rebounded Arkansas, 39-38, with 11 offensive boards. The Tigers scored 13 points off those rebounds.
Here are some of HawgBeat's takeaways from Saturday's loss...
Where has the three-point defense gone?
Arkansas got off to a rough start because of an 18-0 run the Tigers went on that effectively ended any chance the Razorbacks had at a win, but they were especially hot behind the three-point line.Missouri connected 11 times from deep in the game, and the duo of Caleb Grill and Tamar Bates were responsible for six of those.
Arkansas associate head coach Kenny Payne even said Friday that defending the perimeter was a focal point for the team, but that didn't appear to be the case Saturday.
Nine of the Tigers' threes came in the first 20 minutes of the game, and while Missouri cooled off in the second half, the damage had already been done.
The Hogs have been near the bottom of the league in three-point defense, and it was their undoing Saturday night.
Who steps up in possible Fland absence?
Arkansas head coach John Calipari revealed after the game that freshman point guard Boogie Fland hurt his hand during against Florida on Jan. 11. Calipari didn't disclose specifics or how much time Fland might miss, but it sounds as though the Hogs will be without their point guard for at least one game.
"Billy jumped on him, so his hand is pretty bad," Calipari said. "Don’t know what we’ll do going forward, but we’ve got to make sure that we get that thing right."
That being said, who steps up in Fland's absence?
The most practical and likely answer is guard Johnell Davis, who has been relegated to the bench in the last few games. He's had an up-and-down season, but his history suggests he can score at a high clip if he's in rhythm and comfortable.
Where the Hogs will miss Fland the most is in the assist department. No one comes close to the New York native's assist numbers — 5.7 per game. The only one that does is guard D.J. Wagner with 2.8 per game, and even he had four turnovers against Missouri.
Big Z logs big minutes despite loss
There weren't many positives to glean from Saturday's game, but Ivisic deserves some flowers for his performance. The Croatian native finished the game with a 14-point, 10-rebound double double, and he added two blocks and a steal to his stat line as well.
"He’s blocking shots, he got 10 rebounds," Calipari said. "I want him to be that and then make a couple of threes. You don’t have to make five, but when my team can’t make shots, then we’ll go to him."
Ivisic's offense was a welcome sight after he had been quiet since SEC play started. When the season started, he seemingly couldn't miss from deep. He was shooting nearly 60% from beyond the arc and had multiple makes from distance in five games this season. But in the last five games before Saturday, he had one make in six attempts.
Against Missouri, Ivisic came in and hit two threes out of the five he attempted. It's possible that his lack of perimeter shooting was because Calipari wanted him as an inside presence more often, but Ivisic worked a lot more pick-and-pop plays against the Tigers.
