Game story: No. 18 Arkansas unleashes Big Z from 3 to pull away from Troy, 65-49, at BWA on Wednesday

By Kevin McPherson

It was ugly, sloppy, and physical until 18th-ranked Arkansas finally … FINALLY … started raining in three’s — sophomore big man Zvonimir Ivisic led the way with an electrifying 6-of-7 performance from distance playing off the bench — as the Razorbacks got back into the win column on Wednesday with a comfortable-in-the-end 65-49 non-conference win over feisty mid-major Troy at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

Next up for Arkansas (2-1, No. 32 in KenPom.com ratings coming into Wednesday) is unranked mid-major Pacific at 7 p.m. CT on Monday, Nov. 18, at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville (SEC Network Plus livestream). The Troy and Pacific tilts are the first two of four consecutive home games for the Hoop Hogs as they get into the mid-point of their November non-conference schedule.

The Razorbacks improved to 6-1 all-time against Troy, which now includes two home wins spanning the past three seasons.

Coming off a 72-67 neutral-site loss to then-No. 8 Baylor on Saturday that was preceded by a 76-60 win over Lipscomb on Nov. 6 to open up the 2024-25 college basketball regular season, the Razorbacks ran away from the Trojans with an unlikely blistering-hot second half of three-point shooting in what was otherwise a grind game. Troy (2-1) came in looking to remain unbeaten following a pair of wins against fellow mid-major foes last week.

The Hogs shot only 2-of-11 from distance in the first half as they trailed by a point, 27-26, at the break. That shooting plus the team’s anemic effort beyond the arc in its first two games left the team a collective 11-of-50 from 3 for 22.0% through its first five halves of the season (the Hogs were just about as bad in their two exhibition games, too).

And then there was the second half against Troy when the Hogs splashed 8-of-12 from 3 for 75% while raising their game total to 10-of-23 for an elite efficiency of 43.5%. Troy came in as a Top 10-ranked defense against the three after holding its first two opponents to a combined 7-of-37 from distance for 18.9%.

Not only did Arkansas finish with more made three’s than the team had combined in its first two games, but the Hogs’ second-half triples were only one shy of what the team made in those first two outings.

“I’m happy we won,” Arkansas head coach John Calipari said during his post-game radio interview before meeting with the media. “It’s got to be frustration for you fans watching us miss every shot. And who had to start making threes for us to make threes? The 7-2 kid (Ivisic).”

After not starting for the first time this season, Ivisic had a game-high-matching 19 points (6-of-8 from the field, including the aforementioned 6-of-7 effort from 3, and 1-of-2 free throws) to go with a game-high 5 blocks, 3 steals, 2 rebounds, and a boxscore plus-17 in 22 minutes.

After making one of Arkansas’ two first-half triples, Ivisic hit his second three-ball to tie the game up at 32-all at the 16:59 mark of the second half, and his third make from distance capped a 19-7 Arkansas run that gave the Razorbacks their biggest lead at the time, 51-39, with exactly 10 minutes remaining in the game. Troy — after leading most of the first half, by a point at halftime, and by a small margin in the early stages of the second half — would get no closer than a 10-point deficit the rest of the way thanks in large part to Ivisic’s fourth, fifth, and sixth three-point shot conversions.

But “Big Z” got some long-ball help from his Razorbacks teammates as Boogie Fland, Adou Thiero, and Johnell “Nelly” Davis each hit from distance in those final 20 minutes of the game.

“Well, it felt amazing,” Ivisic said of his white-hot second half three-point shooting. “After a while we started hitting some. Felt pretty good. That’s still not what we wanted, we needed to make more. Everybody else. But we’ll just keep working on it.”

In addition to having their breakout half in three-ball shooting, the Hogs dominated the hustle-play stats with a season-high 11 blocks to go with a season-high 16 steals en route to finishing plus-10 in turnovers (24-14), plus-9 in points-off-turnovers (24-15), plus-7 in fastbreak points (15-8), and plus-12 in bench scoring (23-11). Troy did win total rebounds (37-30, including 13-9 in offensive boards), second-chance-points (12-4), and points-in-the-paint (34-22).

Arkansas held Troy 32 points below its season scoring average of 81.0 points per game. Part of that was the aforementioned dominance in hustle plays, and the Hogs also limited the Trojans to 21-of-55 overall shooting from the field (38.2%), and only 3-of-19 from 3 (15.8%) after Troy started the game 2-of-4 from distance. The Trojans made only 4-of-7 free throws (57.1%).

Arkansas’ hot second-half shooting allowed the Razorbacks to finish 24-of-56 overall from the field (42.9%), including the aforementioned 10-of-23 from 3 (43.5%). The Hogs shot poorly from the free throw line, though, making only 7-of-14 for 50%.

“If you watched us, you had to say these kids played hard,” Calipari said. “They played extremely hard.”

Thiero equalled Ivisic’s game-high with 19 points (8-of-15 field goals, including 1-of-4 from 3, and 2-of-4 free throws) to go with a team-high 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, and a game-high boxscore plus-21 in 33 minutes. Thiero has made 3-of-8 from 3 collectively in his last two games.

Fland finished with 12 points — he’s been in double-figure scoring in all three games — on 3-of-7 field goals, including 2-of-3 from 3, and an uncharacteristic 4-of-8 at the free throw line. He also had a game-high 7 assists and 3 steals to go with a season-high 4 turnovers. Fland has made 5-of-8 from 3 collectively in his last two games.

Sophomore guard DJ Wagner played his best floor game of the season despite his continued struggles shooting as he went scoreless but did have a season-high 5 assists and a season-high 4 steals to go with 2 rebounds, only 1 turnover, and a boxscore plus-12 in a team-high 37 minutes.

Davis finished with 7 points (5 in the second half), 5 rebounds, only 1 turnover, and a boxscore plus-13 in 32 minutes. Freshman wing Billy Richmond had another spark-off-the-bench performance, chipping in 4 points (2-of-4 field goals), 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and 1 assist in 15 minutes. Freshman wing Karter Knox also played off the bench while failing to score for a second consecutive game, although he did add 2 rebounds and 1 steal to the Hogs’ cause.

After making his first start of the season, junior forward Trevon Brazile was up to 4 points (two field goals on tip-ins), 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals, and no turnovers  — all in 9 first-half minutes — but he appeared to sprain his right ankle at the 6:48 mark with the game tied at 16-all. He stayed on the floor for a few minutes before being helped off the court, and he did not return.

It’s already a very thin Arkansas frontline in terms of depth as senior big man Jonas Aidoo — he played sparingly off the bench (16 combined minutes) against Baylor and Lipscomb after missing both of the team’s exhibition contests with an undisclosed injury — played even more sparingly on Wednesday, registering only 4 first-half minutes.

“It was his ankle,” Calipari said of Brazile. “I don’t know. They said it did swell a little bit and they weren’t comfortable with him going in, because I did ask, can you give us three minutes so Z doesn’t have to play all 20? And then I said, okay, Z has a problem, we play war games. Who’s going to play the 5? We said Adou. Then we had Billy and Karter, you’re still pretty big.

“He’s (Aidoo) all healed, but you’re going to have to play for the first time in a while, and you’re going to have some pain. But, you’ve got to go through it and have pain, and is it too much for you to play? I told him prior to the game, he didn’t have a uniform on, I said, dude, put the uniform on. I may not play you at all. I’m not planning to, but what if I need you for five minutes. Then what did I play him for? Seven? (It was four). And at the end, it was like two too many. It’s where he is right now. He’s probably 70, 75%.”

Troy was led by forward Jackson Fields’ 13 points and Myles Rigsby’s 12 points. The Hogs shut down the team’s second-leading scorer — Tayton Conerway — who finished with only 2 points (1-of-11 field goals, including 0-of3 from 3).

Calipari started Wagner, Fland, Davis, Thiero, and Brazile.

Arkansas trailed most of the first half and the Hogs were down 16-10 when they used an 8-0 run to take an 18-16 lead, but Troy outscored Arkansas 11-8 from there to close out the half and claim at 27-26 advantage at the break. 

Thiero had 7 points while Fland had 6 to lead the Razorbacks in the first half.

The Hogs shot only 10-of-33 from the field (30.3%), including 2-of-11 from 3 (18.2%), and 4-of-5 from the free throw line (80%) in the opening 20 minutes. Defensively, Arkansas limited Troy to 11-of-27 overall from the field (40.7%), including 3-of-11 from 3 (27.3%). The Trojans hit 2-of-3 freebies (66.7%) in the first half.