Kentucky vs. Arkansas by the Numbers

But seriously though, the guy’s name was Rotnei. 

Arkansas and Kentucky are two completely different teams. Withstanding the different colored uniforms and the roughly 700 miles between Fayetteville and Lexington, these teams are very dissimilar. In a fundamental sense, Kentucky’s is a team of winners. Despite a solid showing against Savannah State, Arkansas has yet to impress anyone outside of Razorback country. Or even in Razorback country. The 17-1 (3-0) are ranked #2 by the RTC index while 13-4 (2-1) Pig Sooie isn’t ranked anywhere near the Top 25 (#79 by Kenny Pomeroy). Kentucky ranks #10 in offensive efficiency and #6 in defensive efficiency. Arkansas ranks #114 and #66 respectively. At first glance, this game shouldn’t even be close.

Unfortunately for Arkansas, you’ll come to the same conclusion at the second glance and third glance, too. Simply put, Arkansas isn’t a great team. Nine Razorback players have played in each of their 17 games, yet only one player, B.J. Young, gets more than 22% of the touches on the floor. Arkansas’ 44% field goal percentage is the fifth worst in the league and ranked 151st nationally. However, the Razorback’s fast pace earns them 76 points per contest. This only makes sense when you consider that Ken Pomeroy ranks Arkansas’ offensive SOS  #338 out of 345 teams. In other words, you can miss a solid number of shots and still score a lot of points when you don’t play anyone.

What’s worse for Pig Sooie is the state of the boards: Kentucky is ranked #19 in offensive rebounds and Arkansas is ranked #299 in offensive rebounds allowed. That’s not good news for the visiting team.

It is worth noting that Mike Anderson’s club plays solid man to man defense. It’s also worth noting that Kentucky shreds man to man defenses. Especially man to man defenses that try to run on them. 

Oh, and 6′-10″ Hunter Mickelson’s 16.6 minutes per game should have really prepared him for Anthony Davis.

That is all. Go Cats.