LINEUP NOTES

Arkansas:

• Bringing Joe back has messed with the starting lineup a little, and this is now Arkansas’s eighth one of the season: Harris, Joe, Whitt, Jones, Bailey.
• I can’t exactly tell you why Harris is starting. Per Torvik, he’s been the worst player in the Arkansas rotation in SEC play. He’s scored double-digits twice all season and has posted a negative Box Plus-Minus in four of the last six games. Personally, I hope he plays 35 minutes.
• Rotation looks to be those main five plus Desi Sills as the sixth man. Reggie Chaney has somehow fallen out of the rotation entirely, gathering just 10 minutes in his last two games. You’ll see nine players, but only six of them look to be getting any real run.

Tennessee: 

• Vescovi, Bowden, JJJ, Pons, Fulkerson.
• Lineups with Davonte Gaines in them on Saturday: +6. Lineups with Josiah-Jordan James in them: -12. Stats for Gaines: 4 pts, 6 rebs. Stats for JJJ: 4 pts, 7 rebs. Why was JJJ in the game over Gaines at the end? That’s a question for Rick Barnes, not me.
• Here’s Tennessee’s best 5-man lineups this season post-Lamonte Turner, per Hoop-Explorer.com:
  • James, Bowden, Gaines, Pons, Fulkerson – 98.1 Adjusted ORtg, 64.5 Adjusted DRtg
  • Vescovi, Bowden, Johnson, Pons, Fulkerson – 118.7 ORtg, 100.6 DRtg
  • Vescovi, Bowden, James, Pons, Fulkerson – 97.7 ORtg, 91 DRtg
  • James, Bowden, Johnson, Pons, Fulkerson – 90.8 ORtg, 105.6 DRtg

KEY MATCHUPS

The Entire Team vs. Mason Jones. He plays 1-4, so just about everyone will get a crack at him. Jones is least effective when being forced into longer twos; he’s hit just 25.6% of his this season. In fact, he’s also just a 31.6% shooter from downtown. Any and all means of keeping Jones out of the paint is critical to winning this game.

Jordan Bowden vs. Isaiah Joe. Joe is going to take an absurd number of threes, probably. Bowden has to be ready to fish his way around screens, both on and off the ball, to force Joe’s shots to be contested.

PREDICTION

It’s one of the most erratic teams in the country playing a group that’s been consistently bad for the last month. I don’t love this pick, but winning on the road seems like a serious challenge for this particular Tennessee roster. Arkansas 63, Tennessee 62.