Observations, takeaways from Arkansas' Red-White game

FAYETTEVILLE — A trio of newcomers ensured Arkansas’ annual Red-White game wasn’t close Thursday night.

JD Notae, Justin Smith and Moses Moody combined combined to match the White team’s total points in the Red’s 103-67 blowout victory in front of a socially distanced crowd of 2,023 students at Bud Walton Arena.

“To have over 2,000 people, I don't think any of us expected to have that many people show up for a Red-White game where it was students only,” head coach Eric Musselman said. “Really good atmosphere for, especially the four freshman, but also for the grad transfers that have never played in this building."

Not technically a newcomer, as he sat out last season after transferring in from Jacksonville, Notae scored a game-high 30 points. Most of that - 24 points, to be exact - came after he switched teams at halftime and heated up, knocking down 7 of 11 shots beyond the arc.

Smith and Moody - a graduate transfer and true freshman, respectively - finished with 22 and 21 points, respectively.

Playing eight-minute quarters instead of the typical 20-minute halves, the Red team saw its 10-point halftime lead balloon into the 36-point final margin thanks to a pair 31-point quarters in the second half.

Musselman pointed out several positives from the night, but led off his postgame press conference by mentioning how disappointed he was in the White’s defense.

“I don’t know if I’ve been a part of an instrasquad scrimmage where a team gives us a 103 points in a 36-minute game,” Musselman said. “I mean the numbers on White are pretty much meaningless if you lose the game by that much.”

Here are a few other observations and takeaways from Thursday’s scrimmage…

Notae’s Tale of Two Halves

In his first game action since last year’s Red-White game, Notae was admittedly nervous when he took the floor with the White team Thursday night.

After sitting out as a transfer from Jacksonville, the 6-foot-1 guard started out about as cold as possible. He made just 2 of 8 three-pointers and also missed a layup in the first half.

Musselman said he felt like Notae was being too impatient and had a bad shot selection, which he agreed that he was trying to force some stuff.

When he came out after halftime, Notae said he let the game come to him and got into a rhythm. The result was the aforementioned 24-point outburst that included making 7 of 11 shots beyond the arc and converting an old-fashioned three-point play.

“He’s a dynamic scorer and he brings a lot to the table, so just having that extra weapon out on the floor makes the defense have to work a little bit harder,” Smith said. “When we move the ball like that, we can get open shots whenever we want. He had the hot hand, so we just kept feeding him and he kept making shots.”

There was one stretch during a span of 1:38 in the fourth quarter in which Notae made four straight three-pointers, highlighting how he can score in bunches, as Musselman said.