Amere Brown finally got the ball with 30 seconds left. Bud Walton Arena begged him to let it fly.
He didn’t. He just bounced it until the horn sounded.
Not every guy would pass up a shot with the whole building yelling for one. Respect earned for a guy that doesn’t get in games very much.
That last dribble sealed a 93-81 win for Arkansas over Memphis on Wednesday night. It also means the Razorbacks got through two exhibition games without a loss.
Yes, I know. Exhibitions don’t count. Nobody’s hanging a banner for beating Memphis in October.
But you can learn things in these games. One is this No. 12 team likes to steal stuff.
The Tigers handed the ball over 15 times. The Hogs cashed those gifts in for 26 points.
Hands in every passing lane
Arkansas only gave it away nine times. Memphis scored 11 off those.
That’s a 15-point gap in a game decided by 12. You can figure out the rest.
Hog fans remember last season, even if they’d rather not. Arkansas allowed 81 a night, and that ranked 337th nationally. Not a typo.
So far, this group looks nothing like that one. Over two exhibitions, Arkansas has 25 forced turnovers and 39 points to show for them.
Gonzaga coughed up 10 of those turnovers. The Razorbacks only got 13 points back, so Memphis took the bigger hit.
Fourteen steals came from nine different players. Jeremiah Wilkinson grabbed three. Miikka Muurinen, Abdou Toure and JJ Andrews snagged two each.
Seven shots got sent back too. Cooper Bowser had three of those rejections. Jordan Smith Jr. and Billy Richmond chipped in a pair apiece.
Smith keeps it short
Smith didn’t need a long speech afterward.
“I believe defense wins championships,” the freshman said.
Hard to argue when your defense just scored more than a quarter of your points.
John Calipari sees the same thing. His team is quick and springy, and he thinks that should lead to a lot of blocked shots and tipped passes.
Tipped passes mean fast breaks. Cal said he wants the Hogs on the run roughly 65% of the time.
He’s not fooling himself, though. Good teams won’t allow that. He figures it’ll be closer to 40% running and 60% grinding in the half court once the schedule gets tough.
Cal takes the blame
Then Calipari did something coaches usually avoid. He said he messed up.
He didn’t like how Arkansas was trapping, so he tweaked it during the game.
He said he probably shouldn’t have.
His reasoning? This roster is young. Young teams need reps before you hand them something new.
The switch left the rim unguarded a few times. Cal said part of that was on him.
He also pointed out the Razorbacks have plenty of size. What they don’t have yet is a plan for when somebody stronger shoves them around.
Perfect night for Richmond
Richmond took seven shots. He made seven shots. Two of those were 3s.
That’s 17 points without a miss. His shooting coach slept fine Wednesday night.
Smith also finished with 17. He hit 7 of 11, blocked two and swiped one.
Davion Thompson is 17 years old and already getting buckets. He put up 13 in his second exhibition as a Hog and made half of his four 3-point tries.
Muurinen got things going early. He jumped a passing lane on Memphis’ first trip and took it the length of the floor for a one-handed slam. He finished with 10 points and 12 boards, best on the team.
That’s five Hogs in double digits if you’re scoring at home.
Nemanja Popovic and Luke Almodovar did most of the damage for Memphis with 16 points each.
Bricks still on the menu
Don’t get too comfortable. Arkansas went 6 of 21 from deep. That’s not great.
Early on, the free-throw line was a problem too. The Hogs opened 2 of 6 at the stripe.
Inside the arc was a different story. Arkansas made 36 of 67 overall for 53.7%, a step up from the Gonzaga game.
Memphis shot 45.9%. The Tigers also missed 10 of their 23 layups, so the paint wasn’t exactly a free lane.
The glass went Arkansas’ way, 40 boards to 34.
Next up is the real thing. The Razorbacks host Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.
No more practice games. We’ll find out if the steals travel.
