It’s top-seeded Kansas vs. No. 8 seed Arkansas at 4:15 p.m. Saturday in Round 2 of the NCAA Tournament

By Matt Tait     Mar 17, 2023

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The Kansas Jayhawks stand for the National Anthem prior to tipoff against Howard on Thursday, March 16, 2023 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Photo by Nick Krug

Des Moines, Iowa — Top-seeded Kansas, a 96-68 winner over No. 16 Howard on Thursday, will take on No. 8 Arkansas at 4:15 p.m. Saturday on CBS.

The Razorbacks knocked off No. 9 seed Illinois, 73-63, in the second game of the day at Wells Fargo Arena and advanced to take on the defending champs in Round 2.

KU (28-7) opened as a 4.5-point favorite over Arkansas (21-13), which spent part of the season ranked in the Top 10 but also endured a four-game losing streak early in SEC play and suffered through another stretch of five losses in a seven-game span to end the regular season.

Box score: Kansas 96, Howard 68

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The KUsports Ratings

Based strictly off of KenPom.com rankings, the Razorbacks’ best wins of the 2022-23 season came over San Diego State on a neutral floor in November, over Missouri at home in early January, at Kentucky in early February and over Auburn in the opening round of the SEC tournament last week.

In terms of bad losses, Arkansas lost at LSU in late December and also lost at Vanderbilt in mid-January.

In the SEC/Big 12 Challenge in late January, Arkansas lost to Baylor by three in Waco, Texas. The Hogs also lost to Texas A&M in the second round of the SEC tournament, and A&M was run out of the building by Penn State in the final game of the day in Des Moines.

Landing at No. 21 in the latest KenPom rankings, Arkansas features the nation’s 55th best offense and 13th best defense and is known for its effective field goal defense as well as its block percentage (13.4%, 17th nationally) and steal percentage 12%, 23rd).

By far the Razorbacks’ biggest weakness is their 3-point shooting. Eric Musselman’s club ranks 305th nationally at 31.6% from deep as a team and also ranks 348th nationally in 3-point attempts per field goals attempted.

The Hogs use their athleticism and length to their advantage on both ends of the floor, and Kansas will have to find a way to combat that by keeping the ball out of the paint on defense and forcing Arkansas to shoot from the outside as often as possible and cleaning up the glass when they do.

When the Jayhawks are on offense, crisp and continuous ball movement, attacking downhill and taking care of the basketball will all be huge keys for the Jayhawks.

KenPom has the game as a 73-70 win for Kansas, which gives the Jayhawks a win probability rate of 62%.

Stay tuned for much more on the matchup from Friday’s media availability sessions at Wells Fargo Arena.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.