It appears the No. 20 Arkansas Razorbacks (3-1, 0-0 SEC) are going to shift their defensive mindset when the Little Rock Trojans (3-2, 0-0 OVC) come to town Friday night.
Following the Razorbacks' 91-72 win Monday over the Pacific Tigers — a game in which Pacific hit 12 threes — Arkansas head coach John Calipari said the team's game plan was to hinder the driving ability of the Tigers, which left the Hogs susceptible to jump shots.
The Trojans, however, are shooting 41.1% from deep in their first five games of the season, and Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman said Thursday the Hogs plan to put more emphasis on limiting those opportunities Friday.
"We can't allow for them to attempt the 25 threes," Coleman said. "And our defense has to cut their attempts in half. They're shooting plus 40%. They got one kid shooting 47%. They got another kid shooting 44%. The two main guys, I think, are really good three-point shooters. So, we have to cut those in half. That means the attempts, the field goal attempts from three."
Those two players Coleman mentioned were likely guards Mwani Wilkinson and Johnathan Lawson, and their numbers are actually higher than that. After the Trojans' 71-57 win over Tulsa on Wednesday night, their three-point percentages are at 50% and 45.2%, respectively.
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The Trojans shot 44.4% from three in Wednesday's win over Tulsa, and went 8-of-18 from deep. Coleman said he'd like to see those numbers lower on Friday night.
"They can’t take 25 threes in our building, that’s not going to happen," Coleman said. "We’re going to try to defend against that and make that be maybe 13 and cut the number of makes down to about five. If we do that, that’ll play into our favor in terms of being a victory."
Monday's three-point defense against Pacific was a bit of an anomaly for the Hogs on the early season. In their other three games (Lipscomb, Baylor and Troy) Arkansas held its opponents to just 30.3% from deep (20-of-66).
In Friday's game, the Razorbacks will need to key on limiting opportunities for Lawson — who is actually the brother of former Razorback Chandler Lawson — because he has size and length that help him get better looks.
"We got to do our job on number 11, he’s a really good player, Lawson," Coleman said. "He's got great size, ability to shoot the ball from three at a high clip and post up and get to the rim. He’s got good size so he’s able to shoot over you, over the top of guys who don’t match his size and length."
The Razorbacks will tip off against the Trojans on Friday night at Bud Walton Arena. The game will start at 8 p.m. CT and will air on the SEC Network.
