HawgBeat - Takeaways, notes, stats from Arkansas' 70-64 loss to Mississippi State
HawgBeat provides takeaways, notes, observations, tidbits and much more from Arkansas' 70-64 loss to Mississippi State.
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The Arkansas Razorbacks (17-8, 6-6) suffered a tough setback in a 70-64 loss against Mississippi State (17-8, 5-7) inside Bud Walton Arena on Saturday.
Arkansas saw the return of freshman Nick Smith Jr., but it was overshadowed by uncharacteristic play on offense and defense.
Here's HawgBeat's takeaways from the game, including quotes from head coach Eric Musselman, tidbits, efficiency ratings, observations, stats and much more:
Welcome back, Nick Smith Jr.
Head coach Eric Musselman revealed Wednesday that the highly-touted five-star freshman had been practicing with the team after right knee management had held him out since after the Dec. 17 game against Bradley. Reports began to surface in the later parts of the week that Smith's return was going to happen Saturday.
The McDonald's All-American checked into the game at the 12:46 mark in the first half, and he exited with 10:06 left after not recording any stats. Smith re-entered with 1:35 to play, but was pulled just 30 seconds later after missing a free throw on a one-and-one. Arkansas was minus-5 with Smith on the court in the first half.
After Mississippi State extended its lead to 16, Smith checked in at 15:49 mark in the second half. He hit his first basket since December on a mid-range jumper that cut the Bulldogs' lead to 12.
Smith played elite defense on the Dashawn Davis at times, but he also had a play where he went over to help on defense and left Eric Reed Jr. wide open for a three that extended MSU's lead to 10 with 6:39 to play.
At times it was clear that Smith was trying to find some sort of groove on offense, but just two of his seven shots fell on the evening. He was 1-of-4 from three, added a rebound and tied Jordan Walsh for a team-best plus-3 in 17 minutes.
"I thought he played fine," head coach Eric Musselman said. "But we have to play better as a team for sure."
Musselman also added that there was no minutes restriction for Smith, despite it being his first time playing since Dec. 17.
Point guard Anthony Black said he thought Smith did well during the time he played.
"I think he did a good job with his minutes," Black said. "He played really hard on defense. With me, what you do on offense, as long as you play hard on defense and just take pride in it, I can live with you maybe missing some shots or doing something. It wasn’t bad for his first time out. We’re happy to have him back. We’ve got to start working him back in now."
Wasn't Mississippi State a bad offensive team?
The Bulldogs entered the game with the nation's No. 317 scoring offense and their offensive efficiency rating on KenPom was 184th.
On the season, Mississippi State made just 42% of its shots from the field and high-major worst 27.9% from three. The Bulldogs shot 47.4% from the field and 60% from three — the best mark of any opponent for Arkansas this season.
"Well I didn’t think we defended like we are capable of," Musselman said. "You know 6-of-10 from three, that’s just not guarding at the rate we need to guard. We don’t defend the three that’s usually not a good outcome for us."
Four MSU players recorded double-digit points, including Dashawn Davis, who had a team-best 17. Shakeel Moore added 12 points, five rebounds and two made threes for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs dominated the first half, hitting 51.9% of their shots from the field and out-rebounding the Hogs by eight.
"Defensively, first half, not who we are at all," Musselman said. "First half offensively not who we are. Their guards, I thought Moore and Dashawn Davis did an excellent job. Those two guys, their shot selection from three going four of five. Tough to overcome when their guards are so efficient from three, and then their team went six of 10 from three."
Every time the Razorbacks seemed to make the game close, MSU would drive the lane and bank in a shot or hit a big-time three on the wing. At one point, Arkansas cut the Bulldogs' lead to 60-57 with 1:22 to play, but the Bulldogs countered with a pair of free throws and a driving layup from Cameron Matthews off a turnover from Black.
"It was us defensively," Anthony Black said. "You see the teams that we’ve played and held to fewer points and worse percentages, and you see them. They’re a good team, too, but you see games … you see teams with pros and we’re holding them to less points.
"That’s on us. They’re a good team, yeah. They play hard, they do all that, but it’s on us. It’s on our defense. We just didn’t get it done today."
Arkansas' defensive efficiency rating of 106.1 was its worst since the Jan. 18 loss at Missouri. The Bulldogs had an effective field goal percentage of 52.6%, which was their third best mark in conference play and Arkansas' third worst allowed to an opponent.
Offense goes stagnant too much
Mississippi State entered the game ranked No. 5 nationally in scoring defense in adjusted defensive efficiency. Those metrics became evident when the Razorbacks passed around the court for nearly the entire shot clock on most first half possessions, which resulted in no basket what seemed like more often than not.
"We went to our open offense and tried to pass-cut, got away from half court sets," Musselman said. "I thought that helped us a little bit. But the first half…just, offensively — and defensively… Not only do we go 9 of 26, but then you add in the defense, so both sides of the ball were a problem in the first half."
The first half featured just 25 points from the Hogs, 12 of which came from Black. The duo of Ricky Council IV and Davonte Davis combined to go 0-of-11 from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
Council and Davis finished the game a combined 3-of-17 from the field and 1-of-7 from deep. It was a tough showing from two players that have been key to Arkansas' five-game SEC winning streak.
"I mean, could’ve just been an off day for them," Black said. "Overall, I think both of them played really hard. They gave us a chance to win, despite what they were doing on offense. Stuff happens. People have games like that. We’ve got to try to make sure only one of us has a game like that. But they still played hard and they fought."
Council did end up finishing the game with 13 points, 11 of which came from the free throw line. Black was the only other player to score double-digit for the Hogs, as he had a game-high 23 points.
Saturday's game marked just the eighth time overall and fifth time in conference play this season that Arkansas had an offensive efficiency rating of less than 100.
Even with all of the things that went wrong, the Hogs gave a valiant effort with 39 points and a field goal percentage of 54.5% in the second half.
"Obviously, give Mississippi State a ton of credit," Musselman said. "I thought they were really physical. Proud of the second half effort, scoring (39) points."
Notes
~ Arkansas’ starting lineup was Anthony Black – Davonte Davis – Ricky Council – Makhel Mitchell – Makhi Mitchell for the fourth-straight time, fifth time overall.
~ Saturday marked Arkansas’ second loss in its last 17 games in the month of February.
~ Davonte Davis had a streak of nine-straight games scoring in double figures snapped as he finished with seven points. However, he has scored double digits in 11 of his last 13.
~ Despite the loss, Arkansas still leads the all-time series 35-33 overall and 23-9 in games played in Fayetteville against Mississippi State.
~ Ricky Council IV has now scored in double figures in 23 of the Razorbacks’ 25 games this season.
~ First time MSU has beaten a top-20 KenPom team in a true road game since beating Vandy in 2012, according to Stefan Krajisnik.
~ Anthony Black now has 103 assists on the season, making him the 5th freshman to reach 100+ assists in a season for Arkansas. He joined Kareem Reid (219), Courtney Fortson (172), Lee Mayberry (135) and Patrick Beverley (110).
Box Score
Up Next
Arkansas will travel to College Station, Texas, to face the Texas A&M Aggies for an 8 p.m. CT tip Wednesday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
