This article originally appeared on December 22, 2013 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.
The Arkansas men’s basketball team is still searching for its
identity 11 games into the season.
In those 11 games, the Razorbacks have used six different starting
lineups and 10 players have started at least once. Also, 12 Razorbacks have
played an average of at least 10 minutes per game.
When Arkansas gets to Southeastern Conference play, head coach
Mike Anderson probably won’t play that many players regularly. He must figure
out which rotation works most effectively.
Against Tennessee-Martin, Anderson went big with his lineup, with
freshmen Moses Kingsley and Bobby Portis playing 20 and 22 minutes,
respectively. Senior Coty Clarke played 19 minutes, as well. Kingsley and
Portis each stand 6-feet, 10-inches while Clarke is 6-feet, 7-inches. .
The move paid off for the Razorbacks, as the three big men
combined to score 42 points, haul in 30 rebounds and block seven shots.
Anderson can also go small, with 5-foot-10-inch senior Kikko
Haydar, 6-foot-2-inch seniors Fred Gulley III and Mardracus Wade, 6-foot-3-inch
sophomore Anthlon Bell and 6-foot-3-inch senior Rickey Scott.
Nationally, the Razorbacks’ identity is that they are a team that
can beat anyone at home, but struggles away from Bud Walton Arena.
This season, Arkansas is 7-0 at Bud Walton and winning by an
average of 26.4 points per game. However, it is only 2-2 away from
Fayetteville, with an average margin of plus-two points per game.
In order to have a successful SEC season, the Razorbacks must
establish their identity and win some games away from Bud Walton Arena.
This is the
ninth of a series of short articles about the Arkansas basketball team. Each
day leading up to SEC play, I will post an entry about something basketball
related that starts with the next letter of the alphabet. Here are links to the
previous entries, as well as the dates for the next five…
J – Dec. 23
K – Dec. 24
L – Dec. 25
M – Dec. 26
N – Dec. 27
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