Thoughts from Arkansas' win over UT Tyler

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FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas Razorbacks put on a dominant display from the opening buzzer to the final buzzer in Friday's 92-39 exhibition victory over Division II UT Tyler at Bud Walton Arena.

In front of a more-than-respectable Friday night crowd for a game that was never going to be competitive, the 2023-24 edition of the Hoop Hogs shot 45.6% from the field as a team with Temple transfer guard Khalif leading the way with 14 points on the evening.

The Razorbacks forced 20 turnovers and they out-rebounded the Patriots, 46-32.

Here are some thoughts, observations and notes, plus a box score from Friday's contest.

For the first time since tearing his ACL on Dec. 6 of last year, Arkansas forward Trevon Brazile was able to check into a basketball game at Bud Walton Arena on Friday. He first saw the court at the 14:40 mark in the first half.

"He played 19 minutes, which coming into the game, the thought process was really between 4 and 6 minutes a half," head coach Eric Musselman said following the exhibition. "So he went a little bit over the plan coming into the game. But he felt good. I think he knew he needed the reps. We certainly felt like he needed the reps."

The first stat he recorded was a turnover as it was clear he needed to shake the rust off. His first and only basket of the first half came one a contested layup as he was falling away. He got that one to go, but he missed his other three attempts, two of which were threes.

Brazile played nine minutes in the first half of Friday's exhibition and he checked back in at the 16:22 mark in the second half. His best highlight of the game came at the 12:25 mark, when he grabbed a rebound over three other guys and then slammed it home emphatically.

It's fair to say that Brazile didn't look like his best version Friday, but it wouldn't be fair to expect him to, given the circumstances. The exhibition was a good chance for him to get acclimated to the in-game pace again and he should be fine moving forward.

"So he misses a little bit of live action based on how we go about practice," Musselman said. "He’s still got a ways to go conditioning-wise. You saw the explosiveness on the dunk, which we’ve seen. And he was really good the other day when we went live in pro day. I think it’s just a matter of getting his timing back. But he wanted to stay out there, which is a great sign as well."

Brazile checked out for the final time at the 5:54 mark and he ended the contest 2-of-7 shooting from the field with four points, three rebounds, two turnovers and one block. He played 19 total minutes, which was a little bit more than the restriction they had for him.

I was very impressed with Arkansas' ability to run the court in its first action against outside competition. Of course everything has to be taken with a grain of salt given the opponent, but I thought the conditioning of the team looked okay given the fact that it was a big concern for Musselman a few weeks ago.

"Yeah we've really worked on this Milwaukee Bucks flow game," Musselman said. "We've spent a ton of time. I didn't really know how it was going to work. We ran it two years ago, and then we gave up on it a little bit too early.

"When we went back this summer and watched film, we were like why did we give up on this because it was pretty good on film. It's what Milwaukee ran two years ago. Not last year, but what they ran two years ago. Our guys enjoy running it in practice, and I was really pleased with how we played outside of our normal halfcourt sets."

The Hogs forced 14 turnovers in the first half and a handful of those came via pressure in the backcourt that turned into transition offense. Arkansas scored seven fastbreak points in the first half and I was impressed with their overall ability to run the court, even in the halfcourt offensive sets.

Let's be real, some players looked gassed when they checked out and got to the bench. But there weren't any plays that stuck out to me as a clear lack of effort or a guy just being tired.

The athleticism of the guards is hard to ignore and a lot of these guys are going to be problems for opponents. Not only are guys like El Ellis and Khalif Battle elite scorers, but they can run you in circles while the guys like Devo Davis and Tramon Mark lock you down as defenders.

"For a guy (Khalif Battle) that has been out for a long time, and he’s been out for a long time, most of the summer," Musselman said. "I thought he came in and shot the ball with great aggressiveness and he’s an explosive scorer.

"Tonight he (El Ellis) played with great pace, didn’t turn it over. I was really happy with our lack of turnovers tonight. I mean, we had a limited number of turnovers and three of them I think were moving screens. So you eliminate that part of our turnover game and… El did a great job taking care of the ball."

It's clear that the players represent the up-tempo pace that Musselman wants to run and they were able to move the ball pretty well and at a good speed. The team had just seven turnovers in the contest and they averaged 1.3 points per possession.

At least four times in the first half, UT Tyler had a player with the ball in his hands as the buzzer went off or just moments before it went off. The Razorbacks were meeting the UT Tyler players as soon as the got the ball and before they could cross midcourt.

"But we want to be a really ultra aggressive team," Musselman said. "We want to be a team that has physicality and I thought we did that. I thought our guards were really physical."

The halfcourt defense was great, as well, and UT Tyler just couldn't keep up with the pressure. The Razorbacks had no issue with traps, steals, getting the ball out in transition or any of the other things that you want to see.

Opponents are going to have a lot of trouble out on the wing with Arkansas' guards, and even the big men like Brazile, Mitchell and even Fall can guard near the arc.

"The whole gameplan was no threes," Musselman said. "So, to look at the stat sheet to see they went 1 of 20, great job. The one they hit we will look at and see why they hit it."

Arkansas totaled 20 turnovers forced and 12 team steals to go. Louisville transfer El Ellis led the way with four steals, and Chandler Lawson and Devo Davis has two steals each. Lawson also added a team-high two blocks.

Arkansas brought in just two four-star freshmen in its 2023 recruiting class, but both of them have the chance to contribute this year.

Guard Layden Blocker out of Sunrise Christian Academy impressed me with how mature he looked with the ball in his hands. He's a guy who will be expected to play point guard more often than not, and I thought he played well Friday.

Blocker scored five points on 1-of-6 shooting with four rebounds, one assist and one steal.

Baye Fall is a four-star center who might get some starts just to try and win the tip at 6-foot-11. You can tell that he's still raw, but he plays with a high motor and he doesn't back down from a physical challenge in the paint.

"We thought it was important to give Baye a start tonight," Musselman said. "But I thought Baye did a good job playing his minutes. I thought he was active as a shot-blocker. He ran the floor hard. He’s just a young player who’s got to continue to progress. But we wanted to give him an opportunity to start, which he got tonight."

I don't question Fall's willingness to battle for a rebound. He does have some things to clean up, especially ball handling, but the ceiling with him is high. He missed the one shot he took, but he totaled six rebounds, one block and one steal.

~ Arkansas went with a starting five of El Ellis, Joseph Pinion, Tramon Mark, Chandler Lawson and Baye Fall.

~ Jalen Graham (back) did not participate in Friday's contest. Musselman said that the senior forward "had back spasms," but did add "You would think in a week that he would be able to be in uniform. That's got to be the hope and the thought."

~ Arkansas is now 72-10 all-time in exhibition games and 6-1 in such games under Eric Musselman.

~ The announced attendance for Friday's exhibition was 7,046 fans.

The Razorbacks will hit the hardwood for another exhibition next Saturday, when No. 3 Purdue comes to town for a charity exhibition between two elite programs. Tipoff for that showdown is set for 3 p.m. CT at Bud Walton Arena, and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.

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