Sure seems like it to me. Razorbacks are a more aggressive, quicker and better defensive team with him in the lineup. Like to hear everyone’s thoughts.
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It’s a good problem to have. Devo is a more willing passer than Notae and Desi Sills is hurt. The hogs will need all 3 of these guys to play well to win games. Depth and fresh legs wins games. Devo has 3 more years to grow and improve. The future is bright on the hill.
It has definitely made a big difference. Devo just impacts many more parts of the game than Notae and Sills. That isn’t a knock on those two guys. I think it’s just pretty clear that’s true. He has earned every bit of his run.
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Devo plays defense, rebounds, scores, all those hustle plays, and passes well, but one thing he brings I think, is pace, Devo plays fast, he can take a sluggish game and in a play pick the pace up.
And again! When the 3 point shot becomes part of his resume, he will do whatever he wants whenever he wants. He is tough now to deal with but will be a big problem for teams. Big.
Love all he bring to the game, but his energy and pace is great.
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Great point. He can change the complexion of a game in a flash.
His energy changes the team, his aggression has, needs to slow down an value the ball a little more but he plays exceptionally hard and that is contagious
He needs to learn to pick the times he drives in out of control and see when he can or can’t score. Man he’s a spark plug.
I saw lots of Sid up close and Devo breaks down defensively so similar and seems to have elements of the same motivation and drive that was Sidney. Really wish we had a shooter like Marvin or any other long range Hog great to compliment what we have in Moses. Justin Smith is the separator and hard to compare to former Hog winners. Who the heck knows if Schall could shoot long range but he and Connor are physically similar in many ways.
I do think Jalen Tate was exposed and pressure will be coming our way to disrupt and turn us over. He was scary bad handling the ball. Devo was better but also will have to learn to handle full court ball pressure better than last night
I have thought for a while now that if I was the opposing coach, I would press our guards full court. We look very shaky in handling the ball. I think recently SEC teams have let us play our style of ball. It is like they did not watch our first few SEC games.
Devo does two things very well imo: He is disruptive on defense at the top where the offense is trying to start; and, he does an excellent job in fast break situations at putting pressure on the defense, by beating his man down the floor and often to the rim. He’s exceptional at those two things.
I think Smith returning from his foot injury turned the season around. But it is nice for the freshman, Devo, to ramp up his game.
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I am sure that too and there are probably several sub-reasons. But this team never looked this way before Smith got hurt, I never had the feeling that the team could compete at high level like I do now, I don’t think this team is going to collapse in any game rest of the year. Fundamentals required to win look solid.
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Before Smith’s ankle surgery we rarely saw Devo on the floor. He was only coming in on mop up time.
Smith’s exit (and KK’s surgery) seemed to trigger Devo’s coming out party. I think the 2 players really complement each other. We got a double dose of a talent increase to the team when he returned.
There’s one trait Smith has that reminds me of Counce. He has a knack of always making himself available for a pass when another player is in trouble or double teamed. You’ll never see that in a box score, but it can be very valuable to the team. I’ve seen several times he’s helped Devo, by making himself available for a pass, when Devo’s dribbled into a double team.
I’m going with more sub reasons than just any one player. Some of its Devos energy, Smiths’s return and getting healthier and leadership, Vanovers improvement, Moodys consistency.
Last but least is Trust between Players and Coaches. To play through mistakes and adversity, keeping your head up just keep playing hard.
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No question about Smith. This team without him is very different. I don’t think it would be as bad as it was when he was out, because of guys like Devo and Williams, and Connor really upping there games since then, but we are so much better when he is on the court obviously but he has become so much better as well because these other guys have improved so much.
Justin has been the recipient of several big time assist from Devo, Connor in the last several games, and has had his play freed up because of their improvement.
It’s been a two way street really having Justin back and having these other guys improving, there was a time this season that we weren’t getting better.
We have other guys getting better around Justin.
Its easy to say well we lost without him now we are winning with him back. True but it’s more than just that. It’s deeper than that. We have other guys improving and it’s been huge!
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In today’s game, virtually all highly recruited guards come in playing offense… outside/in. Devo’s game is inside/out (although rapidly expanding with playing time). This has helped solidify and compliment a team that relied too heavily on the three-ball earlier in the year. Inside guard balling gets more free throws, fouls on the other team, and cleaner looks for the three ball. It has become a team brand and helps to keep scoring droughts more manageable. When you combine this with good FT shooting, you can win a lot of games.
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Completely agree. It was odd to me that we didn’t see this more often from coaches, but I suppose it’s because they might not have the defensive ability/personnel to press effectively.
That being said, we’re going to run into that team eventually–whether it’s here or in the Dance. So, we’re going to have to be ready for it.
I’m sure Muss spends time practicing for this scenario.
This is where I was going. I think the combo of Smith and Davis has helped the Hogs on this run.
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If teams start to press us more full court, they will get killed. Tate only gets into trouble when he tries to dribble thru the press. As young as Devo is, he is savvy enough to know how to pass over the press. Lately, I’ve noticed Muss is using Justin as a pressure release valve at mid-court. Coach Richardson used to say, “the only way to beat pressure is to love it”. We’ve just gotta convert our bunnies once we beat it, because the numbers will be in our favor.