PREVIEW: Lipscomb @ Arkansas

Opponent: Lipscomb Bisons
Date: Saturday, December 8
Time: 4:00PM
Place: Bud Walton Arena, Fayetteville, Arkansas
TV/Streaming: SEC Network
All-Time Series: Arkansas Leads 1-0

This will be just the 2^nd meeting between Lipscomb and Arkansas. The only matchup happened in December of 2004 with the Razorbacks taking the victory, 83-54.

The Hogs had 4 players in double figures with Jonathon Modica leading the way with 16 points.

The Bisons (1-2)

The Lipscomb Bisons (yes, Bisons) were picked to finish 1^st in the Atlantic Sun by the Coaches and Media. The Liberty Flames will have something to say about that after earning to wins over SEC opponents so far this season.

The Bisons return 72% of their scoring from a year ago and added DII grad transfer Romeao Ferguson who now leads the team in scoring at 15.0 points per game. Greg Jones sits right behind Ferguson at 14.0 points per game and is shooting 50% from 3 through 3 games.

Center Ahsan Asadullah will a lot to handle in the paint. He is a big body to deal with. Asadullah is 6-8 and 265 pounds. He’s averaging 12.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists, and 5.0 turnovers this season. He’s an outstanding passer and much of their offense runs through him.

Lipscomb is 1-2 with a win over Lamar and 2 close losses to Tulane and Cincinnati. What’s impressive about this team is that they have done this without KJ Johnson and Tommy Murr. Both were expected to be big pieces to this team. It is uncertain their status for the Arkansas game.

The Bisons have been a poor rebounding team to this point, but they defend the 3 extremely well. Teams have shot just 28.1% from deep against Lipscomb.

They will need to force turnovers, limit offensive rebounds, and shoot it well from 3.

The Razorbacks (3-0)

Arkansas is coming off of 32 minutes of really solid basketball against Texas-Arlington. Coach Musselman said on Thursday that he had about “3.5 hours” of film to watch just from the poor 8 minutes that ended the game.

The Hogs needs to see more from their bench. In the Texas-Arlington game, the Mavericks outscored the Arkansas bench. J.D. Notae and Vance Jackson didn’t produce. The Razorbacks really need both of those guys to give something.

One other area of concern for Arkansas so far has been finishing at the rim. In each game, the Razorbacks have left 10-12 points at the rim on open shots. In SEC play, that won’t be acceptable. You can’t afford to leave those points out there. To quote Coach Muss, “We are a work in progress.” There’s no questioning that, but there is a lot of good happening with this basketball team.

Moses Moody has been awesome as a freshman. Jalen Tate is a stat sheet stuffer. He doesn’t do anything amazing, but he does everything good. Justin Smith has been incredible and Connor Vanover is playing incredible on the offensive end.

I want to see Arkansas put together a full 40 minutes on Saturday. Lipscomb is no pushover, but the Arkansas size and athleticism should give the Bisons problems. Arkansas needs to get out in transition and push the ball.

Prediction: Arkansas 76, Lipscomb 58

Thanks for reading! For all things Arkansas basketball, give me a follow on Twitter @BenBrandonHoops