Arkansas basketball: Connor Vanover hits massive growth spurt
Arkansas center Connor Vanover was already a defensive force in the paint for the Razorbacks last season, leading the team with 51 blocks in 29 games. Now, it appears the towering shot blocker has grown taller. Listed at 7-foot-3 last season, Vanover is easy to spot on the court. In a recent picture next to head coach Eric Musselman, the center appears to be over 7-foot-6 in shoes.
Vanover averaged 6.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 2020, shooting 32.4 percent from the 3-point line and 95.2 percent on free throws. Known locally as “Arkansas Dirk,” the local product is one of just five returning players from last season’s Elite Eight team.
After starting 27 games over the course of the season, Vanover is the team’s most experienced player.
More about Connor Vanover
Connor Vanover is the son of former Arkansas women’s basketball player Robyn Irwin, who led the school in blocks in three seasons. He has two twin brothers who are older than him. Brandon (7-foot) played basketball at Central Arkansas and Justin (7-foot-1) played saxophone in the Million Dollar Band at the University of Alabama, per Arkansas’ team website.
The Findley Prep product originally committed to Memphis under Tubby Smith, but when the coach was fired, he looked elsewhere. He then moved to California, where he averaged 7.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 28 games with 15 starts. When Eric Musselman got the job at Arkansas, Vanover decided to transfer back to his home state.
“We want to try to improve in all facets,” Musselman told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette after landing the transfer. “And obviously as we look to the future, like the way we played pick-and-roll with Connor Vanover is going to have to change. We’re not going to switch pick-and-rolls like we did with Adrio [Bailey], where he ends up being our 5 man then ends up guarding a guard.
“We’re going to have to study, and that’s our project right now, studying NBA 7-footers and how teams, particularly the Milwaukee Bucks, and how they trap their pick-and-rolls.”
With the Bucks coming off an NBA championship, now is as good a time as any to use that templet. Not only did coach Mike Budenholzer utilize his 7-footers in different ways, he also turned former Arkansas big man Bobby Portis into a key part of the team’s success.
Portis averaged 7.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 0.7 steals in 6 games in the NBA Finals.