Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team faces another big challenge in Arkansas

While his players were stretching before practice at the Show Me Center Thursday afternoon, Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Dickey Nutt walked over to senior forward Nino Johnson and told him that he'll face the "biggest challenge of his life" when the Redhawks face Arkansas on Saturday night.

Nutt was referring to the Razorbacks' 6-foot-11 sophomore forward Bobby Portis, who leads the team with 15.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

Nutt knows that the entire Southeast squad will have its hands full as well with an Arkansas offense that leads the Southeastern Conference and is 11th in the country with 83.4 ppg.

"He could very well go in the NBA next year," Nutt said about Portis. "I think he's a pro. I think he's that good, so Nino does have his hands full."

Three other Razorbacks average double-figure scoring: junior guards Michael Qualls and Anthlon Bell average 14.3 and 10.6 ppg, respectively, and senior guard Rashad Madden averages 10.2 ppg.

"They're well balanced. Qualls is a fantastic player. He makes them go," Nutt added about the Arkansas offense. "Man, I could name [several]. There's four guys in double figures, their fifth and sixth guys are close. They score the ball like crazy."

Arkansas (7-2) hosts Southeast at 7:30 p.m. at the Verizon Arena in Little Rock. It's the only time the Razorbacks play there this season. The rest of their home games are played at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where they are 6-0 so far this year.

Arkansas forward Bobby Portis, right, looks to pass during second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Dayton on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014, in Fayetteville, Ark. Arkansas defeated Dayton 69-55. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)

The Razorbacks enter the contest after a 69-55 defeat of Dayton last Saturday. Their two losses were a 95-77 loss to Iowa State and a 68-65 overtime loss to Clemson.

Southeast (5-5) has one win away from the Show Me Center in the non-conference portion of its schedule. The Redhawks face another SEC foe in Ole Miss on Monday.

The Redhawks are coming off a 12-point loss to Missouri State in which the visiting Bears connected on 12 of 19 3-point attempts, including 7 of 8 in the second half.

Arkansas leads the SEC in 3-point shooting. The Razorbacks are averaging 8.1 3-pointers per game and are shooting 42 percent from behind the arc through their first nine contests.

Bell has connected on 22 of 52 attempts from 3-point range, while Qualls has hit 17 of 40.

"Defensively we've got to try to keep them off balance," Nutt said. "Our defense has been pretty good this year, but the one thing that we haven't done so well is defend the 3, and they're very good at shooting the 3, so we're going to have to pay attention to their shooters and try to get a hand up and limit their touches in comfortable areas. Hopefully we can get that done."

Just as challenging for the Redhawks will be Arkansas' defense, which averages 8.9 steals a game.

"They live and breathe with their pressure and their defense, but the first thing I said to my team was, 'Nobody can press JJ Thompson,'" Nutt said, referring to his senior point guard JJ Thompson. "That's the confidence I want to have for my team going into it."

The Redhawks have had a hectic week after their game last Saturday with finals taking place, but Nutt is confident in his team as it hits the road for its final two non-conference road games of the season.

"Once we get it all over with and get on the bus [Friday], we clear our minds and get ready to go play a monster," Nutt said.