All Hogs

Three things that stood out in Razorbacks victory over Queens

What areas of focus did John Calipari use to drive Hogs past high scoring Royals?
Jacob Davis|
Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile dunking against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a game at American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Arkansas Razorbacks forward Trevon Brazile dunking against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a game at American Airlines Center in Dallas. | Michael Morrison-allHOGS Images

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Arkansas Razorbacks

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Arkansas Razorbacks used a balanced high octane offensive assault to power past Queens, 108-80, Tuesday night.

Six Razorbacks finished in double figures led by senior forward Trevon Brazile, who scored 26 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field, four rebounds, three assists, and three steals in 25 minutes of action.

Flashed for Steals

Arkansas came out with defensive intensity that hadn't been seen to this point in the season, forcing the action in passing lanes which led to breakaway dunks and transition threes in the first half.

Arkansas Razorback guard Darius Acuff
Arkansas Razorback guard Darius Acuff (5) drives against Queens Royals forward vantage Parker (6) and guard Nasir Mann (1) defend during the second half at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 108-80. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Five Razorbacks notched at least two first half steals, scoring 20 points off Queens' turnovers. Arkansas' intensity through the first 12 minutes of the game led to the Hogs making more than 72% of their field goal attempts, setting the tone early for a high scoring night.

"What's going to separate us is how we attend to little details on the defensive end of the floor, keeping the ball in front, on ball screen, defense, big's being up to touch, not in drop coverage — especially against the team that shoots a bunch of threes," assistant coach Kenny Payne said in John Calipari's absence after the game. "We imposed our will. It's very hard at this point of the season to expect young players to go out and do it for 38, 40 minutes, but I thought we gave great effort for a lot of minutes."

Disrupting Pace

Queens went into the game making 11 three-point attempts per game at a 31% rate on the season which has led them to averaging north of 80 points each night.

The Razorbacks stifled the Royals to 6-of-24 from three, nearly slashing their opponents' effectiveness in half.

"Watching [Queens] three or four or five games, what you see is a team that's really, it ain't just the threes, it's the pace in which they run the offense and then they get they make 11 threes a game, or somewhere around there," Payne said. "So for us, it becomes a tough-two game, meaning that you're going to score twos. We're not giving you threes. We're going to contest your threes.

"We’re going to force you to drive the ball. But in the other games that they played, I'm telling you, they were really, really good, and I thought we did a great job of forcing them into turnovers. Now they got some twos, but we did a great job of defending the 3-point line."

Avoided the Trap

Tuesday night's game against Queens could've been considered a trap game by most prognosticators given it was sandwiched between two ranked opponents in No. 19 Texas Tech and No. 8 Houston.

It was obvious the Razorbacks were dialed in from the start, parlaying momentum gained in the final 10 minutes of Saturday's win against the Red Raiders to an early 20 point first half lead over Queens.

Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari
Arkansas Razorbacks coach John Calipari during the second half against the Queens Royals at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas won 108-80. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

Arkansas brought supreme energy to the court from the first half tip to the final buzzer, one of the best wire to wire performances by a Calipari coached team inside Bud Walton Arena.

"[Focus] was the key to the game," Payne said. "If we came out and let [Queens] run offense clean, it would have been a hard game. They are a very good offensive team. What we did was we got after them. Our energy was great. The first eight minutes, right after that period, we upped the energy on defense, which created transition baskets, attacking them, moving the ball, and spraying out for threes."

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Jacob Davis
JACOB DAVIS

Jacob Davis is a reporter for Arkansas Razorbacks on SI, with a decade of experience covering high school and transfer portal recruiting. He has previously worked at Rivals, Saturday Down South, SB Nation and hosted podcasts with Bleav Podcast Network where his show was a finalist for podcast of the year. Native of El Dorado, he currently resides in Central Arkansas with his wife and daughter.

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