By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- No. 9 Arkansas will have to play the remainder of the season without sophomore Trevon Brazile.

Brazile suffered a torn ACL in the first half of Arkansas' game on Tuesday night against UNC Greensboro. He played nine minutes missing his only three shots. He also had two rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.

In nine games, all off the bench, Brazile averaged 27 minutes per outing. He averaged 11.8 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds each game. He also had nine assists, 11 blocks and nine steals. On Thursday, Eric Musselman talked losing Brazile for the season.

"The biggest thing is just trying to support TB," Musselman said. "I was just a little bit ago with he and his dad and the trainer, just kind of going through timelines. He’ll get a chance to meet with the surgeon tomorrow and figure out an exact date of when the surgery will happen.

"We want him to be around the team as much as he possibly can be. Like I said, he was already in this morning getting with our trainer. They need the swelling to go down and strengthen the quad a little bit, get range of motion, and then at that point, after that, is when the surgery will happen. I’m more concerned with him being in the right mental frame and being OK as much as a player can be [after an injury]. That’s the biggest concern."

In addition, Musselman talked about the basketball aspect of losing Brazile.

"Then from a basketball standpoint, when we built the roster, he was a big part of how we wanted to play with his versatility," Musselman said. "It’s obviously a huge blow to us, but these things happen in athletics. We’ve got to figure out how we move forward. 

"It’s a shame this ballclub will really have only one game together that it was fully healthy. That’s not going to change. That’s just going to be a fact for the entire year. Somebody’s going to get a new opportunity, or a couple guys are, and then we just have to hope that guys play well."

Arkansas has battled injuries to key players all season. Nick Smith Jr. has only played three games due to pain management in his knee earlier this season. Arkansas managed to get through not having Smith pretty well. Musselman was asked will replacing Brazile be by committee?

"He’s 6-11 and can guard 3s, 4s and 5s," Musselman said. "I looked at last year’s boxscore against Oklahoma, and Trey Wade hardly played. He ended up being a starter for us. Stanley Umude came off the bench that game. He ended up being a starter and a go-to player for us.

"So it’s ever-evolving. We just want to try to continue to who we are Saturday, it’s a new ballclub. TB was a leader for us way back when we went and played the four games overseas. He’s been a go-to player and a guy that we’ve relied on offensively, defensively, blocking shots, versatility.

"So there’s going to be an adjustment, there’s no doubt about it. Other guys are going to get an opportunity. I don’t think there’s one particular player. I think there’s 25 or 26 minutes that are now available that probably were not available up until that injury."

Porter Moser is the head coach of the 7-2 Sooners that Musselman's Hogs will face on Saturday.

"Porter Moser’s one of the best coaches in college basketball," Musselman said. "He’s got a great demeanor. His teams always play really hard. Defensively, they’re very, very — real solid, real disciplined defensive teams. His teams move well without the ball. They’re good cutters. They run dribble-handoff action. They always share the ball. So they have themes on both sides of the basketball, which is why he’s won so many games anywhere he’s coached at."

Last season Arkansas was 9-0 heading into the OU game in Tulsa. But Arkansas hadn't played in front of big crowds away from home then. The Sooners ran the Razorbacks out of the BOK Center 88-66. This year, they played four preseason games in Europe and then in the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.

"I think that Maui helps everybody," Musselman said. "All the teams that were over there, I think it’s going to help all of them. And certainly last year we were feeling good going into the Oklahoma game, as we were undefeated.

"I don’t think the games in Europe have any real, I mean, we didn’t play in front of crowds or anything like that. It was fairly small attended games. But I do think that the Maui neutral site, packed gym helps for sure, playing in an atmosphere like we’ll be in on Saturday."

Musselman was asked if this year's team has any extra motivation for the Sooners considering the 22-point loss last season?

"I think it’s just a different team," Musselman said. "I know when we lost to Loyola in the Sweet 16, we had many of those guys back and we played Loyola at their place the next year. But this year’s team, there’s too many, 10 guys in uniform were not here. Regardless of the outcome Saturday, I think last year’s game is irrelevant. 

"We made an Elite Eight last year, and Oklahoma beat us really, you know, I mean, they beat us. But we were able to recover from that game, and we were able to use it as a big part of our teaching throughout the year, how that game unfolded. So again, I don't really think that last year's game has any relevance at all to any of us, to be honest."

The Sooners are led by senior guard Grant Sherfield. He's averaging 17.1 points and three rebounds per game. He's shooting an amazing 55.6 percent from behind the 3-point line and 43.9 from the field.

Arkansas (8-1) and Oklahoma will tip at noon on Saturday from the BOK Center in Tulsa. The game will be televised on ESPN2.