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Razorback Reels for Georgia and Oklahoma explores how Arkansas has tried to get Nelly Davis going

During his post-game comments after Wednesday night’s 68-65 win over Georgia, Arkansas Razorbacks head coach John Calipari mentioned he and his staff had done some work studying film of Nelly Davis playing at Florida Atlantic to get a sense of what they could do schematically to get him going.

So what did they find? And how has it impacted Davis’s play?

Let’s roll the tape!

Floppy feels like a flop

I want to start by saying that Jimmy Dykes gets a bad wrap as an analyst. If you'll listen, I honestly feel like he and Jay Bilas teach you the most about basketball.

During the broadcast, he pointed out that Arkansas was running “floppy” to get Davis the ball. Floppy looks like this:

It’s a set where you take your best shooter (2 in the picture) and start him in the restricted area. A wing and a big set staggered screens on one side and the other big sets a down screen on the other. The shooter chooses which side to run to and ideally catches a pass from the 1 for a quick shot attempt. It’s the kind of play you’d draw up for players like J.J. Reddick or Klay Thompson.

Arkansas was running a slight variation of the floppy set against Georgia:

There are two things to notice in this version of floppy. First, there’s no stagger screen on one side as Calipari has the other wing at the nail. Second, Davis isn’t getting the separation he needs to get a quick look from three. Davis even runs to the other side and still gets nothing.

Poor execution of floppy was not isolated to one possession.

It didn’t work much better in the absolute gut punch of a loss against Oklahoma.

Here, when Davis doesn’t get the separation he needs to get a clean look from three, he dumps it down to Jonas Aidoo who posts up and draws a foul. It’s not a terrible result, but it’s not what floppy is designed to do.

Davis feels like a dynamic duo type of dude

On the flip side, Davis has been scorching hot against Georgia and Oklahoma when he runs some two-man action. He’s been a dribble handoff wizard, and it doesn’t even matter which big he’s in action with, though he has been especially good in DHOs with Zvonimir Ivisic.

He’s using it to put the ball on the floor and get good looks from inside the arc.

He’s also knocking down threes after using the DHOs to create shooting space.

He’s even generating offense for others in that two-man action.

Key Takeaways

When Calipari needed a three-point bucket late in the game against Oklahoma, what did he draw up? A dribble handoff between Davis and Ivisic, and Davis rewarded his confidence by knocking down the shot.

Getting Davis going after Boogie Fland’s injury has clearly been a point of emphasis for Calipari. It’s the right move, especially for a team that has struggled to generate points. That’s why Davis was brought to Fayetteville in the first place.

While Calipari deserves credit for going to the well and coming back with something new, the floppy set is not putting points on the board. However, there might be a glimmer of hope in what Davis can do in the two-man game with Razorback bigs.