FAYETTEVILLE — It took a game-and-a-half for Connor Vanover to get a basket against Missouri this season, but once he got going on Saturday, the Tigers found it difficult to stop him.
Vanover, a 7-3 redshirt sophomore from Little Rock, scored all 12 of his points during the second half to help the University of Arkansas beat No. 10 Missouri 86-81 in overtime at Mizzou Arena.
“I was really looking forward to this game,” Vanover said. “Not only was it a top 10 team, I needed some redemption.”
Vanover was looking to redeem himself after struggling offensively in Missouri’s 81-68 victory at Walton Arena on Jan. 2. He scored four points that day by hitting all of his free throws and had 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots, but he finished 0 of 11 from the field.
Vanover started Saturday, but he didn’t attempt a shot before Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman took him out 4:07 into the game.
Missouri 6-10 forward Mitchell Smith, a senior from Van Buren who came into the game 5 of 27 on three-pointers, went 2 of 2 from beyond the arc during the first 3:17 when Vanover left him open.
“The first four minutes, I just didn’t really do much,” said Vanover, who didn’t attempt a shot and had one blocked shot and one turnover. “They came out and hit two threes on me.
“I was just kind of lax, I could say. I just knew from that point on I needed to get myself going, stay positive and know that if he ever calls my name, I had to be ready.”
Musselman didn’t call on Vanover again in the first half, but he started the second half and quickly went to work.
Vanover finally got his first basket in two games against Missouri by dunking with an assist from Jalen Tate with 18:04 left in regulation. He got a layup 27 seconds later with another Tate assist.
Later in the second half, Vanover hit a pair of three-pointers, had an assist for a Moses Moody basket, grabbed an offensive rebound that led to two made free throws by Tate and hit a jump hook.
Of the 42 points Arkansas scored in the second half, Vanover had a hand in 18.
When the game went to overtime, Vanover won the tipoff and had an assist for a Justin Smith basket.
“I went back out in the second half, and I just started from the get-go,” Vanover said. “Just trying to play better defense, get open shots, looking for other guys. Just trying to do everything I could.”
Vanover is more of a perimeter player than an inside threat with his shooting and passing skills, but when Missouri Coach Cuonzo Martin decided to use guards on him defensively much of the second half, Musselman made an adjustment.
Musselman said he used sets from his days as an NBA coach with Golden State during the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons when former Mississippi State star Erick Dampier was the Warriors’ center.
“We added two pick-and-roll [plays] offensively, where we run a little rush screen instead of just running a stationary pick-and-roll,” Musselman said. “Something the other teams haven’t seen us do, because how would they? We’ve never done that before.
“They put a guard on Connor and it was like, ‘What are you going to do? Truth or dare? You going to throw it in there or are you going to let him keep roaming out on the perimeter when they have a guard on him?’
“We threw it into him and ran a play about four straight times that we have not run one time this year. We had to diagram it in a timeout.”
Among the Tigers who guarded Vanover were 6-3 Dru Smith, 6-2 Xavier Pinson, 6-5 Mark Smith, 6-5 Torrence Watson, 6-3 Drew Buggs and 6-8 Parker Braun.
“We locked fingers a couple times and he still saw [the shot] go down,” Braun said. “It’s definitely a matchup issue.
“It’s tough switching on him because he’s going to have 8 or 9 inches on any guard he’s switched onto. He can see over guys and post up. In Fayetteville, he couldn’t get going. [Saturday] he saw a couple go down.”
More than a couple.
Vanover hit 5 of 6 shots, including 2 of 3 three-pointers, in the second half when he played 18 of his 26 minutes. He finished the game with 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocked shots.
“We’re all a bunch of smart guys,” Vanover said of running offensive plays the Razorbacks hadn’t used in previous games. “We can adapt throughout the game, so whatever [Musselman] draws up, we pretty much know how to run no matter what it is.
“I’ve been a post player. I always work on my post moves and doing things in the post, so it really wasn’t anything new to any of us. As soon as he drew it up, we knew what we were going to get into, and we just got to it.”
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