Anthony Black, Ricky Council’s Scoring Not Enough

Creighton's hot shooting pulls out narrow win over Razorbacks in Maui

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Nov 23, 2022 11:10 AM EST
Original:
Nov 23, 2022

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No matter how you slice it, Arkansas's 90-87 loss to Creighton in Maui on Tuesday night had a lot of positives.

Some fans will see it. Others won't.

The Bluejays were the No. 10 team in the rankings. The Razorbacks are ninth. Two teams ranked that close should have had a nail-biter like that.

When you realize the Hogs didn't have Nick Smith playing, it's interesting to play the what-if game of how it would have been with him healthy and playing. Just saying what the obvious should be to everybody.

Anthony Black-Creighton — Arkansas Razorbacks Anthony Black in a game against the Creighton Bluejays in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Maui Invitational)

This one came down to the wire and while Hogs coach Eric Musselman was about as short as he will get in a press conference without the usual local media to interrogate him on every aspect of the game, he will find positives.

Point guard Anthony Black has certainly become one in this Top 10 matchup that he had to play without his best player and some interesting officials' calls throughout the game.

"Give Creighton a lot of credit tonight and then our guys played really hard," was his complete opening statement. Musselman usually has a longer answer than that when you say good morning to him.

Eric Musselman-Creighton — Arkansas Razorbacks Eric Musselman in a game against the Creighton Bluejays in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Maui Invitational)

Black scored 26 points, pulled down six rebounds and handed out six assists. It's still just November, but he's starting to stack some solid games on top of each other. At the 6-foot-7 he's getting some serious national attention already with his two big games in Hawaii.

Ricky Council IV had 24 points and Trevon Brazile added 17. Throughout the game, Creighton would pull away, then the Hogs would come back and tighten things up. The ebb and flow usually went hand-in-hand with the defensive effort.

The Hogs got down by six at halftime, then found their offense, scoring 53 in the second half and having a decent chance to win the game at the end, mainly because of first-half foul problems that had things out of rhythm.

They found it in the second half as Black heated up and everybody else followed along.

The game featured stand-out offensive performances from Bluejays’ Ryan Nembhard (25 points), Ryan Kalkbrenner (21 points), and Baylor Scheierman (20 points). Nembhard and Scheierman both hit three three-pointers.

Ricky Council-Creighton — Arkansas Razorbacks Ricky Council in a game against the Creighton Bluejays in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Maui Invitational)

As a team, Creighton shot 58% from the field, taking advantage of far fewer field goal attempts than the Razorbacks.

The Hogs won't see many teams as good and disciplined on offense as Creighton was. The Bluejays appear to be far more of a finished product in November than most folks, mainly due to their experience.

The Razorback defense created 21 points off turnovers compared to Creighton’s three.

The game was tied 10 times and had 10 lead changes, all in the second half.

Arkansas will play either San Diego State or Arizona in the third place game Wednesday night at 9 p.m. on ESPN2 or listen online at HitThatLine.com or on ESPN Arkansas 99.5 in Fayetteville, 95.3 in the River Valley, 96.3 in Hot Springs or 104.3 in Harrison-Mountain Home.

Game notes and other information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.

Davonte Davis-Creighton — Arkansas Razorbacks Davonte Davis in a game against the Creighton Bluejays in the Maui Invitational on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022. (Maui Invitational)

Game Notes

• Arkansas’ starting lineup was Anthony Black, Davonte Davis, Ricky Council IV, Jordan Walsh, Makhi Mitchell for the fourth game in a row.

• Arkansas won the tip.

• Creighton’s Ryan Nembhard scored the game’s first points, a 3-pointer at 18:44. Makhi Mitchell scored Arkansas’ first points at 18-28.

• Trevon Brazile was the first Razorback sub for the fifth straight game.

• This was just the 24th time a top-10 Arkansas team faced a top-10 opponent. The Hogs are now 9-of-15 in such contests. Overall, Arkansas is 46-50 when ranked in the top 25 and facing a top 25 opponent.

• Arkansas lost despite committing just nine turnovers and out-scoring the Blue Jays 21-3 on points off turnovers.

• Arkansas also out-scored the Blue Jays 21-3 in points off the bench.

• This is the second game in a row Black had 26 points and six assists.

Game notes and other information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.