Know the foe: Arkansas Razorbacks

Mar. 16—Leading the way

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman returned to college basketball in 2012-13 after spending more than a dozen years in the NBA, including two seasons as head coach of the Golden State Warriors and one with the Sacramento Kings. It wasn't until he was back in the top job at Nevada in the 2015-16 season, though, that Musselman became unofficial king of the transfer portal. His best Wolf Pack teams were built on transfers, and he took that philosophy to Arkansas where he's meshed transfers and five-star recruits for 93 wins so far during four seasons.

Player to watch

Arkansas' leading scorer is not one of its three five-star freshmen. That title goes to Wichita State transfer Ricky Council IV. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound guard, who was on Illinois' radar this past offseason, is averaging of 15.9 points and 2.3 assists. Both are career highs, and he's also hauling in 3.4 rebounds per game. The Durham, N.C., native's offensive efficiency mirrors his team's as a whole. Council is shooting 44.5 percent overall, but with a 51.6 percent mark on twos and a 27.2 percent result on threes.

Pro prospects

Those five-star freshmen — and Council — might not be long for Fayetteville, Ark. The two who are absolutely one-and-done for Arkansas are freshmen guards Nick Smith Jr. and Anthony Black. The former missed 19 games this season with a knee injury but could still be the first college player taken in the 2023 NBA draft behind the likes of Victor Wembenyama, Scoot Henderson and Amen and Ausar Thompson. Black won't last much longer as a second projected lottery pick for the Razorbacks. Council and the third five-star, Jordan Walsh, are projected second-round picks.

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Best win

It's kind of slim pickings. Outside of the Maui Invitational — wins against a broken Louisville team and San Diego State, and a loss to Creighton — Arkansas' nonconference slate defined soft. There wasn't all that much success against the top of the SEC either, with the Razorbacks going 3-7 against the best five teams in the league. That leaves the best win that wasn't roughly four months ago (the Aztecs in Hawaii) as either a Jan. 21 home win against Texas A&M or a Feb. 7 win at Kentucky. Let's take the latter, which was an 88-73 victory with five players in double figures.

Worst loss

This one's easier, given it's the only Quad III loss on the books for Arkansas this season. While the Razorbacks did beat LSU by 20 at home, a 60-57 loss in Baton Rouge, La., on Dec. 28 was their worst offensive performance of the season. It tied for Arkansas' second-fewest points in a single game, but from an efficiency standpoint was worse than the 56-point effort in the Feb. 15 road loss at Texas A&M. The Razorbacks shot just 4 of 25 from three-point range in the loss at LSU and basically failed to get to the free-throw line, attempting 10 and making just five.

Key stat to know

There aren't many teams that have been less efficient than Arkansas behind the three-point line this season. Illinois, of course, is one of them. The Razorbacks check in at 288th nationally, making 32.06 percent of their three-pointers this season. The Illini are 324th at 30.96 percent. The difference is in how frequently the teams launch from beyond the arc. Just shy of 42 percent of Illinois' field goal attempts are three-pointers. Arkansas' total field goals include just 28 percent three-pointers, which ranks the Razorbacks 346th nationally out of 363 Division I teams.