Arkansas coach John Pelphrey decided to not take his young Razorbacks to an exotic location for a tournament this season. He didn’t think they were ready for the experience. Instead, the Hogs will host the Jim Thorpe Classic, which begins tonight with their game against Austin Peay. They will face Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night to wrap up the event, giving them two challenging foes for this event.

Austin Peay (5-3) at Arkansas (6-1)
When: 7:05 p.m.
Where: Bud Walton Arena
TV: nope
Radio: for those inside our readership area, check out 107.9-FM, 92.1-FM or 1290-AM

About Austin Peay

Basketball tradition is rich at this Ohio Valley Conference school located in Clarksville, Tenn. Dave Loos, the Governors’ 19th-year coach, has built a consistent winner at Austin Peay, which has won 45 games the past two seasons and won last year’s OVC crown. His team is 5-3 this season, but four of those victories have come on the road. One of those defeats came last Saturday at No. 9 Louisville, a contest in which the Governors led midway through the second half. For the effort, junior guard Wes Channels was named OVC Co-Player of the Week and forward Anthony Campbell was selected OVC Freshman of the Week. Senior forward Drake Reed leads the Governors at 20.5 points.

Players To Watch

Arkansas
Courtney Fortson, 5-11, 180-pound freshman point guard
Should be intriguing to see what Fortson will produce as an encore to his triple-double last Wednesday against North Carolina Central. His 20-point, 11-assist and 10-rebound effort earned him SEC Player of the Week honors and drew national attention. With the Governors bringing two inexperienced point guards with them to Fayetteville, expect Fortson to ooze confidence.
Southeastern Louisiana
Drake Reed, 6-5, 225-pound senior forward
An all-OVC performer the past two seasons, Reed is on pace for a career-best campaign, even better than his OVC Player of the Year performance as a sophomore. Loos described Reed as “being able to do a little bit of everything for us.” Reed is a competent scorer, passer, rebounder and defender, and he has mastered the art of drawing attention and finding open shooters.

Keys For An Arkansas Victory

1. Right Attitude
The schedule immediately upgrades from the past three weeks. The cupcakes are gone. The quality opponents have arrived, and Arkansas’ attitude must reflect that reality.
2. 3-Point Defense
Four shooters for Austin Peay have taken at least 20 shots from 3-point range and made at least 39.7 percent of them. The Hogs must get out on those shooters.
3. Constant Pressure
Arkansas began to show more full-court pressure in its victory last Wednesday over North Carolina Central, and the Razorbacks need to continue to expand on that.
4. Board Battle
Austin Peay comes to Fayetteville severely out-sized. Frontcourt players such as Michael Washington, Michael Sanchez, Andre Clark and Brandon Moore need to exploit the size differential.
5. Find Clarke
Freshman guard Rotnei Clarke must get more shots. The Razorbacks have done a poor job recently of finding the sharp-shooting Clarke in the flow of the offense.

Gameday Links
• Here’s more of an in-depth look at the challenge Austin Peay presents in today’s Morning News.
• From the Governors’ perspective, James D. Horne of the Leaf-Chronicle in Clarksville, Tenn., provides a preview of tonight’s matchup.
• FoxSports.com’s Jeff Goodman gave Fortson a shout-out in his “weekly wrap.”
• Click here to catch up on some SEC notes.