Arkansas guards were confident that they could score against UK and they were right

Kentucky had no answer for Arkansas guard Devo Davis (4) Tuesday night. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Arkansas not only came into Rupp Arena and won for the second straight time but it did so by making 18 of 25 shots in the second half when it outscored host Kentucky 47-33.

“We’re confident in our team and our offense, we are unselfish like that. I mean I think we can shoot a high percentage like that every game,” Arkansas guard Anthony Black, who had 19 points on 18-for-15 shooting and five assists, said.  “Had a lot of run outs and we just took good shots overall. Even ones that didn’t drop, I thought we took pretty good shots.”

Guard Devo Davis had 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting along with seven assists and three rebounds — Black also had four rebounds.

“We had confidence coming in here. I haven’t lost to Kentucky yet since I’ve been playing for Arkansas, so I for sure had some coming in,” Davis said.  “Just knowing that the last time I played in Rupp with a team two years prior to this year, we came in and won you know what I mean.

“It was tough, of course it’s Kentucky you know what I mean. So a really well-coached program all around, it’s a blue blood, so we just wanted to come in here and fight and I think we as a collective group did.”

Davis said Arkansas wanted to attack the pick and roll like most teams have been successfully doing against Kentucky.

“We knew that their coverages wasn’t that good. Just knowing that Oscar (Tshiebwe) wasn’t up to par on the pick-and-roll, so we knew that we wanted to just continue to just attack the goal and feed the bigs running down to the paint,” Davis said,

“I think we managed our shots the right way, you know what I mean. When it came down to the last few possessions we needed to execute and we did that by either getting a basket or getting to the free throw line. I think we as a collective group did pretty well executing I guess you can say.”

Arkansas coach Eric Musselman thought guards Black, Ricky Council and Davis were “phenomenal” against Kentucky. They had a combined 54 points on 19-for-35 shooting, 10 rebounds and 16 assists. They all played 35 minutes or more.

“Devo’s passing tonight and his seven assists… he’s been shooting the ball so well. And I can’t tell you from a shot selection standpoint how proud I am of him playing to win tonight because he’s been shooting the 3 at a really high level. And he took what the defense gave him,” Musselman said.

“Sometimes when somebody takes 10 3’s and makes four the next game they come out and they hunt for that shot. So I’m just really proud of his maturity and his game management tonight. He’s defending at an incredible level and I thought his basketball decision making was probably the best since I’ve been around. He played to win the game and he tried to do every possible thing that he could to help us come out of Rupp with the win.”