Alabama basketball has enjoyed a much-needed week off but is now in Fayetteville to begin a two-game road trip at Arkansas and Texas back-to-back.
The Crimson Tide has a brutal final nine games in SEC play to close the regular season. The game on Saturday night at Bud Walton Arena has gotten tougher with a recent Razorback resurgence. John Calipari's Hogs have put together consecutive impressive road victories by beating Kentucky and Texas.
Arkansas will return home on Saturday night to a fanbase with renewed energy. It will be a big challenge for the Crimson Tide to overcome.
Arkansas' season was on the brink after an 0-5 start to SEC play and a season-ending injury to star freshman guard Boogie Fland. But the Hogs have righted the ship by winning three of four and are now back in the thick of the NCAA Tournament picture. Beating Alabama on Saturday night would be another big resume booster.
Alabama will have its work cut out for them in Fayetteville. The Tide sports a five-game winning streak of its own and has won 13 of its last 14 games. They are no stranger to winning games in tough road environments, having already won at North Carolina, Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Mississippi State. This is a battle-tested team that will not be intimidated by a raucous road environment.
Arkansas is playing its best basketball at the moment, but Alabama has a big advantage that could prove to be the difference down the stretch.
Alabama's superior depth will be a factor against Arkansas
With Fland out for the year, Calipari has had to shrink his rotation down to eight guys. He effectively shrunk it to seven in the win over Texas by only playing Jonas Aidoo for four minutes.
There's a lot on the shoulders of starting guards DJ Wagner and Johnell Davis. Each has played at least 35+ minutes in the last three games. Against Texas, Davis played 39 and Wagner 37 minutes. At the pace that Alabama plays at, those guys are going to be exhausted down the stretch.
Arkansas doesn't play slow. The Hogs are 84th in the country in tempo, per KenPom. And yet, they still average about six possessions less per game than Alabama, which leads the nation in tempo.
Whereas Arkansas puts a ton on Wagner and Davis and then uses Billy Richmond III off the bench, Alabama is comfortable playing any of its four guards. Mark Sears is the only one averaging over 30 minutes per game. Aden Holloway and Labaron Philon are more than capable of running the offense when Sears is on the bench. Philon has been nursing an ankle injury but should be much closer to 100% following a week off.
Chris Youngblood won't be asked to initiate offense, but he'll play some minutes at guard and slide up to the three at times.
Against Texas, Calipari played four of his starters for at least 35 minutes. Along with the two guards, center Zvonimir Ivisic and wing Karter Knox also eclipsed that plateau. That won't be a winning formula against Alabama. Especially with just three days in between games.
If Alabama can control the pace, there's no way Ivisic in particular will be able to hold up with that minutes load.
Nate Oats knows more basketball than I ever will, but I think the Crimson Tide should play smaller lineups against Arkansas and really push the tempo as much as they can. I'm sure we'll see the usual starting lineup, but Oats should deploy as many three-guard lineups as he can. Three of Sears, Youngblood, Holloway, and Philon need to be on the floor together as much as possible.
This feels like a Mo Dioubate game to me, too. He figures to be the best defensive matchup against Adou Thiero and should be able to punish the Hogs on the offensive glass. Grant Nelson should hold up just fine against Ivisic at the five. Ivisic is 7'2, but isn't much of a rebounder so he won't make Alabama pay on the glass for going small. He's averaging just over nine rebounds per 40 minutes.
The week off has allowed Alabama to get healthy. Both Philon and freshman wing Derrion Reid have had some nagging injuries, but they should both be nearing 100%. That will allow Oats to play his full 10-man rotation on Saturday night against Arkansas and run, run, run.
Look for Alabama's superior depth to be the difference in what will probably be a close game for a while with the Crimson Tide pulling away over the final few minutes.