TAT: Arkansas Basketball A-Z - Turnovers

This article originally appeared on January 2, 2014 on The Arkansas Traveler website, uatrav.com.

Arkansas has made a living off of turnovers in the two and a half years under head coach Mike Anderson.

The Razorbacks forced 15.9 turnovers per game and had a plus-3.3 turnover margin in Anderson’s first season, 2011-12, both of which were 19th in the country and first in the Southeastern Conference.

Last season, Arkansas improved those numbers, forcing 17.5 turnovers per game and had a plus-5.9 turnover margin. The Razorbacks led the SEC in each category and were fifth and second in the NCAA in turnovers forced and turnover margin, respectively.

It is no surprise that the Razorbacks are near the top of those categories again this year. Arkansas’ plus-5.9 turnover margin is sixth in the NCAA and its 18.3 turnovers forced is second in the NCAA. Both are first in the SEC, again.

These statistics have translated to success for Anderson and the Razorbacks. Since Anderson became the head coach, Arkansas is 18-1 when forcing at least 20 turnovers in a game.

This season alone, the Razorbacks have played five teams ranked in the top 100 in the NCAA in fewest turnovers committed per game. In those games, Arkansas forced 3.4 more turnovers than those teams average per game.

Forcing turnovers will be a key for Arkansas during SEC play. Four SEC teams rank in the top 100 in the NCAA in fewest turnovers committed per game and the Razorbacks play all four of them.

Tennessee’s 9.7 turnovers per game ranks ninth, Auburn’s 10.9 ranks 51st, Florida’s 11.4 ranks 72nd and Ole Miss’ 11.6 ranks 83rd.

Arkansas plays the Volunteers on the road Jan. 22, the Tigers at home Jan. 25, the Gators at home Jan. 11 and the Rebels at home Mar. 5.

This is the 20th 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…

A – Anderson

B – Balance

C – Charity Stripe

D – Defense

E – Expectations

F – Fastest 40

G – Gulley

H – Harris

I – Identity

J – JUCO Transfer

K – Kingsley

L – Lackadaisical

M – Madden

N – Natives

O – Offense

P – Portis

Q – Qualls

R – Rebounding

S - Southeastern Conference

U – Jan. 3

V – Jan. 4

W – Jan. 5

X – Jan. 6

Y - Jan. 7