In retrospect, it was bad planning that I chose Arkansas-Louisville rather than the game that followed it, Memphis-Kansas, as the first game of the new season on which to take possession-by-possession notes. Still, there’s nothing as useful as taking possession data by hand to give me a good sense of a team and its players.

As it turned out, Arkansas’ lack of depth caught up with it in the game’s final 15 minutes, and Louisville’s 3-point shooting and ball-hawking defense ended the competitive phase of this game. The 96-66 Louisville victory, while lacking the last-second drama of the nightcap of Tuesday’s doubleheader, still left plenty of interesting conclusions to glean.

Let’s start with the basic tempo-free team box:

For a team with just six scholarship players thanks to a bevy of suspensions, Arkansas did a pretty good job of taking care of the ball against Louisville’s zone press. Julysses Nobles had just two turnovers in 38 minutes as the point guard facing most of the heat from the Cardinals’ seemingly endless depth of aggressive guards. It was big man Mike Washington’s careless play — six turnovers — in just 28 minutes — that accounted for more than a third of the team total (16). The senior center was called for three travels and had two shots blocked in Arkansas’ first 21 possessions.

Still, Arkansas had 20 points in those 21 possessions and led, 20-19. Much of that was due to a 7-for-12 start from the field, but Arkansas would not maintain the hot shooting.

Arkansas was also unable to capitalize on Louisville’s defensive overaggression. The Cardinals, who don’t apologize about their desire to physically harass opposing ball-handlers for 96 feet, committed 24 fouls and sent the Razorbacks to the line for 28 free-throw attempts. Free-throw rate was the only of the four factors where Arkansas actually outperformed Louisville, but if John Pelphrey’s team could have made more than 17-of-28 free throws (60.7 percent), it could have hung around a bit longer.

One of the hidden keys to Louisville’s defense is the referees’ permissiveness. Rick Pitino’s teams incessantly swipe at guards in an attempt to pick up steals or rattle them into turnovers. It’s hard to call every hack that doesn’t get all ball, and even the best referees will miss many, which is part of the effectiveness of Louisville’s press. The Cards’ most judicious foulers last season — Earl Clark and Terrence Williams — were rare in their ability to combine defensive activity without fouling. They’re now gone, so nights like this, when the officials had a more literal interpretation of the rulebook, Louisville can put its opponents into the bonus early. A better, deeper team might have made Louisville pay for its indiscretion.

As it was, Louisville put the game away with two runs, the first built around the 3-pointer. Louisville closed out the first half on a 30-11 run across a 19-possession span for each team. Eighteen of those 30 points came on 3-pointers. Reginald Delk hit two of them — he had a game-high 20 off the bench — Jared Swopshire hit two, Jerry Smith hit one and Edgar Sosa the other. Louisville shot 9-of-20 (45 percent on 3-pointers in the first half). Few teams, certainly none with six scholarship players, can survive that type of barrage, especially when the Cards follow each make with full-court pressure.

Louisville took a 17-point halftime lead into the locker room but returned from the intermission by sleepily permitting Arkansas to get back in the game with a 14-0 run. In that span, Louisville missed five 3-pointers and had three turnovers.

The Cardinals offense is going to have these types of stretches if it doesn’t work through Samardo Samuels on the interior. Samuels was 6-for-11 from the field with a team-high seven free-throw attempts, this despite a maddening inability to finish several from close range. Samuels should be the go-to guy in this offense, because of his efficiency and ability to draw double-teams. The concern, though, is that Samuels will not find the right player out of the rotation, as he’s displayed a Yinka Dare-like assist rate in his brief college career (exaggerating for the purpose of making a point). That will need to improve for Louisville to be more than a 3-point bombing offense with a few fast breaks and dumpdowns mixed in.

Even when the Razorbacks moved within three points at 48-45, it never seemed like they were a real threat to Louisville, and, indeed, the Cards responded with a 17-3 run that put the game out of reach at 65-48 with 11:32 left in the game.

This run was built on transition baskets. A Delk steal led to a layup by Sosa on a pass from Preston Knowles. Smith stole the ball from Rotnei Clarke, which led to another Knowles to Sosa easy bucket. Terrence Jennings blocked a Marshawn Powell shot, and that led to a Knowles dish to Kyle Kuric for a layup. Louisville is at its most dangerous creating offense out of defense, and Arkansas wasn’t disciplined, fit or talented enough to work for the kind of shots that the Cards wouldn’t be able to turn into easy baskets.

One of the subplots entering the game was how Clarke would do against a talented defense. He had scored 50 in a 62-point win over Alcorn State on Friday. Louisville put an emphasis on finding Clarke in the zone, putting long-armed or lightning-quick defenders between the sophomore and a good look. Clarke still had a good game, making 6-of-11 shots, including three 3-pointers, but he wasn’t able to free himself up for enough shots. There’s no way that two other teammates should have attempted more shots than him. Whether it was Pelphrey’s inability to draw up sets to get Clarke good shots, Clarke’s lack of quickness in getting to open spots or Louisville’s athletic and well-prepared defense, Clarke wasn’t able to make the impact he needed to for Arkansas to be competitive.

Arkansas will get better as it starts to get its players back — Stefan Welsh should be reinstated for the ‘Backs next game against Appalachian State — but it’s unclear whether Arkansas will be good enough to challenge for a postseason berth. The offense and defense both have to make a lot of progress, namely in defending the 3-pointer and controlling the glass.

As for Louisville, the defense looks strong again, especially as Swopshire appears to be growing into the role of a rangy player who can get in passing lanes and rebound on both glasses. The offense will get better as it learns how to play without Williams and Clark. Working through Samuels and depending less on the 3-point shot will help the Cards be more consistent, but the 3-point shot and transition offense will necessarily be major parts of this offense, as they always are with Rick Pitino teams. A little less Edgar Sosa — 4-for-12 on Tuesday, 2-for-8 from deep — would help as well.

The Cards’ next test should come at UNLV on Nov. 28 before Western Kentucky comes to Louisville on Dec. 19. Both of those teams defeating Louisville last season. The first matchup between Pitino and John Calipari with their current schools will be in Lexington on Jan. 2, three days after UofL’s conference season opener at home against USF.