Arkansas NCAA Tournament 2015: Let's Get To Know The Wofford Terriers

Name: Wofford College

Location: Spartanburg, South Carolina - home of the Beacon Drive-In where I had a great biscuit one time.

Mascot: Terriers

Arkansas' record against teams with dog mascots this year: 7-1 (we're counting Tennessee because of Smokey). Arkansas' record against cat teams is much more troubling.

Why are they here? Wofford won the Southern Conference, both the regular season and tournament championship. They're 28-6 on the year with their biggest win being over NC State back in December. They did have some ugly losses though, like at home to Chattanooga and on the road at The Citadel.

Do they have good players? Senior guard Karl Cochran is easily their best player. He averages 14.6 points per game and is a 37% 3-point shooter. He's taken over 25% of all the field goal attempts by Wofford this season. Cochran also is tied for the team lead in rebounds (5.8 per game) even though he's only 6'1". He's also capable of passing, disrupting on defense (1.8 steals per game).

What about everyone else? They're solid, as you expect from these successful mid-major teams. All the rest of their starting 5 are over 50% on two-point field goal attempts. Spencer Collins and Lee Skinner both average in double figures. None of their main contributors are as bad at free throw shooting as Jacorey Williams. Collins and point guard Eric Garcia can both shoot the three (both around 38%) but neither take nearly as many shots as Cochran.

Are they big? No. They don't have anybody over 6'7". So if Bobby Portis is back on his game offensively, he could have a memorable night. Wofford's also a pretty bad offensive rebounding team. Since defensive rebounding has been one of Arkansas' liabilities at times this year, that's good news for the Hogs.

How are they defensively? They've been pretty effective against their competition, limiting opponents to 97.5 points per 100 possessions - but again, that's against their level of competition. Since they're not very big, they don't block a lot of shots, but they are one of the better teams in the country at generating steals. They've also held opponents to just 30.8% 3-point shooting, which ranks 26th nationally. They're also one of the better defensive rebounding teams, grabbing 78.3% of potential defensive boards, which ranks 40th in the nation. Whether they can do that against a bigger team like Arkansas will be an interesting challenge.

What kind of style do they play? They play much more slowly than Arkansas. Their tempo is near the slower end of the Southern Conference, and would also rate near the bottom of the SEC. They're good at not turning the ball over and are a pretty good shooting team. They get to the free throw line at about an average rate, but they don't commit a lot of fouls either. Of their starters, only "center" C.J. Newman has committed more than 3 fouls per 40 minutes (he's committed 4.2). Justin Gordon doesn't start but does get a lot of minutes and he commits fouls at a high rate as well, but everyone else seems to avoid it.

Could this be like Bucknell? Remember, that Arkansas/Bucknell game was an 8/9 game. This is a 5/12 game. A 12-seed does pull an upset nearly every year so the Hogs shouldn't take them lightly, but if the Razorbacks can take advantage of their size and athleticism they should be in good shape.