The Good, Bad & Ugly: Arkansas 76, Lipscomb 60

No. 16 Arkansas picked up a 76-60 victory over Lipscomb on Wednesday in the official debut of John Calipari at Bud Walton Arena. Here is the good, bad and ugly from the season-opening win from the Razorbacks:

The Good

• Arkansas shot 54% from the field, bolstered by a dominant 54 points in the paint, scored 23 fast-break points and turned 19 Lipscomb turnovers into 25 points on the other end of the floor.
• The Razorbacks pulled away with an emphatic 16-4 run to close the game, eight of which came from sophomore forward Zvonimir Ivisic who ended an 11-0 Lipscomb run with a critical three-pointer that opened the floodgates.
• Johnell Davis was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time and looked close to a return to form with 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds and a noticeable impact defensively.
• Arkansas held Lipscomb to just 60 points on 37.9% shooting overall and a 33.3% clip from three. It was 17 fewer points, 14% lower shooting from the field and nearly a 10% drop from three for the Bisons compared to their win at Duquesne on Monday.
• Jonas Aidoo made his debut for the Razorbacks after sitting out the two exhibition games due to injury. While he only managed 2 points and 3 rebounds in 7 minutes of action, Aidoo looked better in his second rotation than his first, and having him back on the floor is a big boost for Arkansas moving forward.
• A few honorable mentions for the not-too-shabby category include a highlight reel dunk by Karter Knox, a beautiful transition gather and flush by Trevon Brazile and a pair of late slams from Adou Thiero to punctuate the win.

https://twitter.com/RazorbackMBB/status/1854368864551022807

The Bad

• Arkansas had more turnovers (12) than assists (10) against a Lipscomb team that played a pack-line man and mixed in zone defensively.
• The Razorbacks finished 4 of 7 from the free-throw line Wednesday night, making it consecutive outings where both the volume and efficiency from the stripe was far too low.
• Arkansas missed 29 shots, including 15 threes, but only came away with six offensive rebounds against a team that it was far superior to in terms of size, length and athleticism. The 20.9 offensive rebounding percentage is roughly half of the team’s goal.

The Ugly

• Arkansas’ half-court offense was a tough watch for long stretches on Wednesday. The Razorbacks were stagnant far too often, rarely had multiple ball reversals and did far too little to make Lipscomb work defensively. Fland was guilt of multiple no-pass possessions as the lead guard, and the Hogs went multiple possessions at a time without getting Davis a touch.
• Arkansas shot 4 of 19 (21.1%) from three-point range in the game. It missed its first nine attempts before a late-clock pull-up by Davis late in the first half. Fland went 1 for 8. The Razorbacks are now 17 for 67 (25.4%) through three games against outside competition.