Missouri-Arkansas basketball preview: TV, time and projected lineups

Missouri at Arkansas

WHEN/WHERE: 5:05 p.m. Saturday at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.

TV/RADIO: ESPN2; KMBZ (98.1 FM)

PROJECTED LINEUPS:

ABOUT MISSOURI (12-4, 2-1 SEC): This is the beginning of a string of games that can boost Mizzou’s postseason resume. Ten of MU’s final 15 games are against teams that rank in the top 57 of the NCAA’s RPI rankings. Arkansas’ RPI, 26, is one spot ahead of Missouri’s. ... After averaging 19.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game over a 10-game stretch, Jordan Barnett finally cooled down in Mizzou’s win over Georgia. He scored seven points on 2-of-7 shooting. Barnett tends to play better in the opening halves of games. He has averaged 38.3 minutes per game during conference play and has played the entire second half of all three SEC games. … Jordan Geist, Missouri’s starting point guard in every SEC game, has averaged 30.3 minutes during conference play. Freshman point guard Blake Harris transferred after Mizzou’s Jan. 3 conference opener, a win at South Carolina. Harris had been the Tigers’ starting point guard for much of the season. … Freshmen big men Jontay Porter and Jeremiah Tilmon had strong second half performances against Georgia. Porter, making his first start, had his second career double-double (15 points and 10 rebounds) against the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-11 Porter is one of just six players in the country to have at least 30 assists and 30 blocks this season. … Porter was starting in place of Kevin Puryear, who, prior to the win over Georgia, had a string of poor performances. Coach Cuonzo Martin said he moved Puryear to the bench to “relax” him, and he does not want Puryear to be content coming off the bench. So it seems unlikely that the change to the starting lineup will be permanent. … Tilmon played 20 minutes against Georgia and committed just two personal fouls after fouling out of Missouri’s prior two games. The freshman center has fouled out of four games this season.

ABOUT ARKANSAS (11-5, 1-3 SEC): During the preseason, Arkansas was picked to finish sixth in the SEC by the media, one spot behind Missouri. The Razorbacks have lost three straight. Most recently, they lost at home to LSU by 21 points. … Arkansas has seven seniors on its roster. Two of them, guards Jaylen Barford and Daryl Macon, lead the Razorbacks in scoring. They have averaged a combined 38.3 points in conference games this season. … Arkansas coach Mike Anderson, a former Missouri coach, has labeled his teams’ style of play as the “Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball,” and the Razorbacks are close to that this season. According to KenPom.com, Arkansas’ offensive possession have lasted just 15.1 seconds on average, which was the 19th-fastest pace in the country as of Friday. The Razorbacks rarely give the ball away, too. Only 14.3 percent of their possession have ended in turnovers, which ranked eighth in the country as of Friday. … Arkansas is shooting 38.7 percent from beyond the three-point arc, which ranks fourth in the SEC, but only about a third of their field-goal attempts have been threes.

This story was originally published January 12, 2018 at 4:25 PM with the headline "Missouri-Arkansas basketball preview: TV, time and projected lineups."