Jordan Smith improvement is big for Arkansas basketball

No one thought Jordan Smith's 0 for 9 shooting performance against Gonzaga was going to be representative of how well he would play offense for Arkansas this season. Nevertheless, it was still jarring to see a hyped star player be that inaccurate that consistently in an exhibition game on his home court in Bud Walton Arena. Smith literally couldn't have shot the ball any worse against Gonzaga. There's nowhere to go but up after an 0 for 9 donut. We knew Smith would be better against Memphis, but the real question was how much better he would be.

The answer should be a source of relief and encouragement for the Razorbacks. 

Smith wasn't just better; he was legitimately strong, shooting 7 for 11 from the field and scoring 17 points in 18 very efficient minutes. A point per minute? That's pretty good. Crucially, Smith didn't hit a single 3-point shot in this game. He was getting all his work done in the paint and by getting to the basket. He's a stud athlete, and stud athletes should be able to physically outwork opponents to get to the spots they want on a court, a baseball diamond, a football field, or any other playing surface. Smith did that. He was a big dog who looked the part of an elite freshman who will do special things for Arkansas and John Calipari this season. Smith set a winning tone, and his teammates picked up on that.

Billy Richmond was 7 of 7 from the field. Cooper Bowser was 3 of 3. Miikka Muurinen was 4 of 7. Davion Thompson was 3 of 6. Arkansas' shooting was so good up and down the roster that the one bad shooting performance of the night, Jeremiah Wilkinson going 1 of 9 from 3-point range, basically got drowned out by all the other quality performances on the team. Arkansas scored 93 points even with Wilkinson not being able to hit the side of a barn from 3-point range. Imagine if Wilkinson had his 3-point shooting stroke against Memphis. Arkansas would have cleared 100 points and would have come close to making 60 percent of its field goal attempts. 

We saw a lot more offensive upside from this team in this game, and Jordan Smith's much improved offensive performance stood at the center of that reality. Arkansas' stars needed to see the ball go through the basket a lot more against Memphis. Mission accomplished. Let's bring on the regular season, shall we?