The one-sentence recap of Arkansas-UNCA is this: Jalen Graham led the Hogs in scoring while Joseph Pinion was in double figures. The Hogs jumped out to a big lead early and got to go deep into the bench during an 85-51 win that closed nonconference play (until the Baylor game next month).
Grading the Hogs
Our model assigns a grade for each game (overall, offense, and defense) based on the efficiency numbers and the quality of the opponent. The result is normalized to give a grade 0-100 for each phase of the game.
Here’s Arkansas’ all-season performances:
The weird (and hopefully outlier) performance against UNC Greensboro is the only negative over the last seven or eight games. The Hogs’ grade in this one of 98 is their third-best of the year, behind Fordham and San Jose State.
Advanced Stats
Arkansas looked good in both sides of the ball in this one. The pace was slower than we expected, but the Hogs still scored 85 points by hitting a few more jump shots than we anticipated.
Arkansas’ defense is really starting to come into its own right now. As we discussed in the preview, UNC Asheville’s offense is very good in transition – 45th in transition percentage and 44th in transition scoring rate – and the Hogs completely shut that part of their game down. Arkansas’ superior length is getting to opponents much more now than earlier in the year.
This was also true in 3-point defense. The Bulldogs have a good 3-point shooting team, but they had almost no open shots. The Hogs closed out much faster than what UNCA shooters were used to and it showed. The Bulldogs had a high turnover rate and couldn’t hit from downtown.
Arkansas, meanwhile, was almost perfect on offense, which is unsurprising given the friendly matchup. UNCA struggles to keep opponents away from the rim and doesn’t put much pressure on the ball, which is not a good recipe to combat Arkansas’ offense. The Hogs got tremendous ball movement and took more than half their shots at the rim. Arkansas also battled on the offensive boards and got to the free throw line, which are the inevitable bonuses of getting to the rim regularly. For good measure, the Hogs also shot a solid percentage from beyond the arc, with Joseph Pinion knocking down a couple of corner 3s.
Arkansas didn’t really miss Nick Smith for this one. My hope is that Smith is fine, but the Arkansas staff saw this matchup and knew that the LSU game isn’t for a week and decided to give Smith’s knee a rest for a few extra days in hopes of having him healthy when conference play starts.
The Razorbacks also got to Asheville star Drew Pember, who had a rough game, scoring just five points. Credit a nice combination of Jordan Walsh, Makhi Mitchell, and Jalen Graham for that.
Up Next
Nonconference play is over. The Hogs face 11-1 LSU in Baton Rouge next week.
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