Retour
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The No. 19 Arkansas Razorbacks and the visiting Robert Morris Colonials have met only once throughout college basketball history.
The lone meeting came in 2012 during Mike Anderson's second season at the helm, as Arkansas squeaked out a 79-74 victory inside Bud Walton Arena. Shooting guard B.J. Young starred with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting along with five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
That same Colonials squad that nearly knocked off the Razorbacks pulled of a stunner in the opening round of the 2013 National Invitational Tournament by defeating Coach John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats 59-57.
After the game, Calipari called the loss "humbling" considering the expectations in Lexington nearly one year removed from cutting the nets after winning a national title.
Speaking of being humbled, the Razorbacks committed 15 turnovers in a 91-72 loss to No. 6 Virginia on Sunday. The Cavaliers turned the ball over just nine times and outscored Arkanin points off turnovers, 24-6.
If that didn't sound the alarms on Sunday, then the inability to prevent offensive rebounds did. Arkansas lost that battle 19-15, but the telltale sign was Virginia overpowering them 28-14 in second chance points.
Colonials' coach Andrew Toole has spent the last two seasons leading his team to 24- and 26-win seasons, respectively. However, his squad is off to an awful start to the season at 0-2 overall with losses to Nevada and Illinois-Chicago by a combined 165-105.
Arkansas dispatched UA-Pine Bluff in the season opener with relative ease, 106-61 and used a 25-2 run to start the game and never looked back. RMU ranks No. 359 nationally out of 361 schools in turnovers with 19.5 per game and have been relatively inefficient on offense.
The Colonials are shooting a team-wide 33% from the field (No. 356), 26.2% from three (No. 322) and pull down just nine offensive rebounds (No. 330) per game.
The Razorbacks will need to avoid letting RMU dictate the pace of the game given their 70 possession per game (No. 269) compared to Arkansas' 76 (No. 92).
This game provides Arkansas an opportunity to find some sort of offensive cohesion in the halfcourt while also getting out on the fastbreak and finding scoring opportunities there.
RMU has allowed opponents to make over 47.7% of their field goals (No. 305) and connect on 36.2% from three (No. 297). That means the Razorbacks ought to be able to use their collective team speed, length, shooting and athleticism to generate cleaner scoring opportunities.
The Colonials have been outscored 25-2 in transition through their first two games. That combination along with its turnover problems will be key to Arkansas dominating an inferior opponent on Wednesday.
The Razorbacks will tip off against the Colonials at 7 p.m. and can be streamed on the SEC Network+ on the ESPN App.