A brilliant offensive stretch to close out the non-conference schedule had Arkansas basketball feeling optimistic about the team’s overall shooting. Entering the SEC opener against No. 1 Tennessee, the Razorbacks ranked fourth nationally in field goal percentage (50.8%) while hitting 3-pointers at a rate of 36.8%.
But preseason concerns seemed justified on Saturday. The Hogs (11-3, 0-1 SEC) shot a season-high 37.7 percent from the floor against the Volunteers (14-0, 1-0), going 6 of 29 from 3-point range and, even worse, 6 of 13 from the free throw line.
Add it all up, and Arkansas found itself running out of the gym in a 76-52 loss, which represented the worst offensive performance of the year.
“Look, you don’t have to make all of your 3s, but you can’t miss all of them,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said. “You can’t miss 10 in a row or you won’t win.”
More: Arkansas basketball needs ‘soul searching’ after being overwhelmed by Tennessee
More: Arkansas basketball, John Calipari blown away by No. 1 Tennessee in SEC opener
DJ Wagner and Karter Knox made the first two attempts from downtown, but Arkansas then missed 19 of its next 21 3-pointers. That drought coincided with a dominant Tennessee run that pushed the lead to double digits, and the Vols led 42-27 at halftime.
The offensive malaise was not a complete surprise. Tennessee leads the country in 3-point defense and is second in defense, but this was a giant step backwards. Arkansas had scored at least 80 points in four straight games.
Boogie Fland and Johnell Davis represented Arkansas’ biggest disappointments behind the arc. That duo combined to go 2 of 12, with Davis missing all four of his attempts. Davis missed the Hogs’ previous two games with a wrist injury.
The Razorbacks’ best 3-point shooter this season is Zvonimir Ivisic, a 7-foot-2 big man, who entered Saturday 20 of 44. He went 1-for-2 against Tennessee, but he continues to struggle on the defensive end and has seen his minutes drop significantly in recent weeks.
Calipari has to find a way to keep Ivisic on the ground. His impact stretching opposing defenses is too valuable. The Hogs play most possessions with at least two players who don’t pose a threat from the outside.
After the game, Calipari said the poor shooting numbers weren’t a product of a bad offense. He thought his team was generating quality looks, but the shots just weren’t falling.
However, he didn’t like how the misses negatively affected the Razorbacks in other dimensions.
“If we created a good look and missed some, I looked at them and said, ‘Guys, you’re not going to make every shot. Just keep playing. Fight.’ You have to learn to fight when you’re not playing well, so it was a great learning experience for this team,” he said.
There are other, more important factors that played into the loss from the blowout.
Tennessee won the rebounding margin 51-29 and got 29 points from Chaz Lanier. Zakai Zeigler won New York’s point guard battle against Boogie Fland, and Arkansas couldn’t have asked for a tougher start to the conference schedule than a road game against the top-ranked team in the country.
Arkansas now has three days to regroup before a home game against No. 23. Ole Mademoiselle.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Shootout issues resurface in Arkansas basketball loss to Tennessee
