Arkansas bought again within the win column Saturday with a 69-57 victory over Ole Miss. After a sluggish begin, the Razorbacks ultimately took management of the sport because of a late first half spark from freshman Joseph Pinion.
The Morrilton product entered the sport with 3:17 to go within the first half and instantly made an influence, flattening two threes and a layup earlier than halftime to present Arkansas a 32-29 lead on the break, one it by no means gave up after that.
“I believed Joseph actually performed properly,” Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman stated after the sport. “There are a variety of issues that go into choice making, and Joseph Pinion tonight rebounded the ball. He had 5 rebounds in simply 21 minutes. He had 4 defensive rebounds.
“Defensive rebounding was a excessive, excessive precedence coming into the sport. It was one thing we talked concerning the final 48 hours that we wanted to collectively defensive rebound. There’s little doubt his 3-for-6 from the sector, that being Joseph Pinion, was extraordinarily necessary to us.”
Pinion completed the sport with 13 factors, which tied a season-high, in 22 minutes of motion. He shot 5-of-10 from the sector and 3-of-6 from three, however offered extra than simply offense, as Musselman identified. The sharpshooter additionally added 5 rebounds, a steal and a block to his field rating, in addition to a plus/minus of plus-17, ok for second on the crew.
Despite not seeing a ton of run this season, Pinion has succeeded when given the chance. The freshman has performed 10 or extra minutes in simply 4 video games this season, however has produced in these video games. Across these 4 video games, Pinion holds a mean of 9 factors, two rebounds and one steal per sport, whereas taking pictures 54.2% from the sector and 47.1% from three. Most importantly, Arkansas is 3-1 in these 4 video games.
“(Pinion’s efficiency) was large,” Arkansas freshman Jordan Walsh stated. “I imply, similar to the primary time we performed Mizzou, he was an enormous catalyst of that win. Like, he had one other massive sport the place he was taking pictures properly.
“He in all probability had the identical quantity of factors, like, identical 3s. So I really feel like now we’re seeing a sample right here the place Joseph, every time he’s having an enormous sport, then it’s like, the crew’s higher, the morale’s up and we’re profitable. So I really feel like he’s additionally an enormous a part of the sport, despite the fact that folks might not assume that simply primarily based off the opposite three video games he performed.”
Pinion’s offensive score of 132 on KenPom was one of the best of any Arkansas guard on Saturday. Across the three wins that Arkansas has had when Pinion performs greater than 10 minutes, he’s averaging a 167.3 offensive score. For context functions, the nationwide chief in offensive score is Purdue’s Zach Edey with a 125.5, however that’s primarily based on a minimal of getting used for 40% of whole minutes on the season.
Arkansas will attempt to construct off the Ole Miss win when it hosts the LSU Tigers at 6 p.m. CT Tuesday inside Bud Walton Arena. That sport shall be broadcast on ESPN2.
