NCAA Basketball: Arkansas, SMU among best unbeaten teams that aren’t ranked

Team: Arkansas

Conference: SEC

Record: 9-0

Leading Scorer: Moses Moody is averaging 16.8 points per game.

Victories: @Auburn, Mississippi Valley State, North Texas, UT Arlington, Lipscomb, Southern, Central Arkansas, Oral Roberts,  and Abilene Christian.

KenPom ranking: 28

Why they are undefeated:  Arkansas once again ranks No. 1 on this week’s power rankings and for a good reason. The Razorbacks are undefeated as some predicted and that they have demonstrated early this season that they could be one of the top teams in the SEC conference this year. Arkansas is continuing to be lead by their head coach in Eric Musselman and it appears that he has developed a strong foundation in helping this Arkansas team continue to improve throughout this season.

This Razorback team this season is lead by a dynamite true freshmen in Moses Moody who is one of the main reasons why this Arkansas team has not lost a contest up to this time in the season. Moody can do multiple things on the court but he is known as a 3-point shooting specialist who is shooting 40.5 % from beyond the arc and nearly averaging just under six rebounds and two assists per game. Moody is also the Razorbacks leading scorer averaging just under 17 points per game.

Arkansas has won all of their games this season by at least 11 points including their first SEC conference game in which they defeated Auburn on the road by 12. The Razorbacks have once again earned the No. 1 ranking in these power rankings due to them being the most balanced and especially be the most proficient offensive team due to their ability to score at will game after game.

Arkansas on offense has shown all season that they can score 142 points as they did in their season opener against MVSU or lockdown on defense and deny the opposing teams to only 44 points as they did against Southern.

The Razorbacks have scored 85 or more points six times this season and they have limited opposing teams to 62 or fewer points in five games. Arkansas has some quality wins on the road against Auburn, against Abilene who is 8-2, and North Texas from Conference USA who currently has a winning record.

The Razorbacks will face some quality competition to start this new year in conference play as they start to play in 2021 back-to-back top 12 ranked teams. Musselman and his team plan to remain undefeated as long as possible but it will not be easy.

Reasons to be Pessimistic: Arkansas overall has not played high-end competition and they have not played any close games. The Razorbacks have not had to overcome a late-game deficit and have not been thoroughly tested yet this season.  If you were to examine some of the current records of the opposition that Arkansas has defeated thus far, Central Arkansas is 1-7, Mississippi Valley State is 0-8, and Southern is 0-4.

The Razorbacks have only defeated three teams with winning records thus far this season. Also, Arkansas has only played one game away from home as their only scheduled non-conference road game against Tulsa was canceled.

Arkansas, like Washington State, can only play teams on their non-conference schedule and the Razorbacks will have many chances and opportunities to defeat not only quality opponents in SEC conference play but also top-ranked teams as well.

Next Opponent:  No. 10 Missouri on 01/02