Wilkinson, Smith light up scoreboard in Arkansas’ win over Carleton

John Calipari is known for his guards, and two of those were on full display in the Arkansas basketball team’s blowout win over Carleton University in the Baha Mar Hoops Summer League in The Bahamas on Saturday night. Jordan Smith Jr. finished with a triple-double with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists in 30 minutes of action. He was all over the floor and had four steals as well. “He can literally do everything,” Arkansas associate head coach Chin Coleman said. “He can block shots, he can rebound. He can defend the best players. He’s just a winner, and that was one thing that we thought in the recruiting process. If we wanted to win and we wanted to win big, he was probably the guy that we should be targeting to give us the best opportunity, the best chance to win and win big.” The Washington, D.C., native used his size and athleticism to get to the rim relentlessly, and when he got there he converted at a high clip. He went 9-of-14 from the field and 1-of-2 from deep, that lone three coming at the buzzer at the end of the first half. But Smith wasn’t the only guard to explode on Saturday night. Coleman, who was serving as the acting head coach for the game, wasn’t even sure Jeremiah Wilkinson was going to suit up an hour before the game, as he took a nasty fall on his shoulder and head after a dunk in the previous game against The Bahamas National Team. He did, though, and was scorching hot. Wilkinson showed off his range and went 5-of-9 from deep, where the bulk of his 26 points came. He also went 7-of-9 from the free throw line and had four rebounds and two assists through 25 minutes of action. “One of the things that kind of gives them the opportunity to be really good together is that Jordan is about 6-foot-2, maybe touching 6-foot-3,” Coleman said. “Jeremiah, he’ll be mad at me if I say he’s not 6-foot or 6-foot-1. But they’re both plus-ten athletes for their size. So whatever size you guys wanna give Jeremiah, he has a 45-inch vertical. “So they’re really athletic, really fast, really strong. They make up for what they lack in size, Jordan 6-foot-2, 6-foot-3, but he’s got a 40-inch vert. He’s got long arms like Darius had, so his club’s athleticism gives him the ability to do so much, so they can play off of each other.” It’s not just Wilkinson’s scoring on the court that helps the Razorbacks, though. As a third-year player, he’s a veteran and has to lead a team which has an average age of 18 years, 7 months old. “I can really shoot the ball, so that’s gonna be part of my role here, too,” Wilkinson said. “That translates everywhere you go. But my job here is to just keep expanding my game and just be a leader to these guys, and that’s how I keep going. I was an underclassman last year. I was a sophomore at Georgia. Now I’m an upperclassman, and we have a lot of younger guys. So it’s on me to lead.” Arkansas made quick and easy work of The Bahamas National Team on Friday night, but Saturday’s game was a little more difficult. Carleton is the defending national champions in Canada and don’t shy away from competition. That was evident when, with 7:37 left in the first half, the Hogs only led by six points. The Ravens were unafraid to punch back up to that point, but the Razorbacks went on a 10-0 run, fueled mostly by two Wilkinson threes, to push Arkansas’ lead to double digits. Competition like that is hard to find in summer exhibitions, and with a team as young as Arkansas is this year, it was good to get exposed to that now, as opposed to when the season starts in November. “They came out with the physical mindset to start the game and I loved it,” Coleman said. “To see what we’re made of. So those guys kind of made it hard for us for about the first ten minutes of the game. Dagger, dagger, dagger. “Jeremiah just kind of gave us a separation. We got some stops. We got our first kill at about, I think it was like 14 minutes in the first half that we got our first kill…But give credit to Canada, played a tough game. They were really into it to start. They had a game plan and then we kind of wore them down with our numbers.” The Razorbacks have an off day on Sunday and will face Toros del Valle, a team out of Colombia, on Monday evening. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. CT and the game will stream on FloSports. Subscribe to HawgBeat now for just $1, visit our homepage to sign up today! This includes complete access to all On3 and Rivals national content, plus The Trough premium message board.