FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas held its annual men's basketball Red-White game on Wednesday night in Barnhill Arena with the Red squad taking an 88-70 victory before approximately 6,000 fans.
The two teams were hotter than a summer night from the field. The Red team shot 68.5% from the field and 54.5 from behind the 3-point line. The White squad shot 55.3% from the field and 47.1 from deep. Those numbers got Eric Musselman's attention.
"So really pleased with our shooting," Musselman said. "Pretty pleased with how the flow of the offense is. We’re running an offense that we ran for about 10 games two years ago that’s kind of what Milwaukee ran two years ago. And it requires a lot of thinking and a lot of reading and pretty happy with how far advanced the guys are with that."
Considering the team hadn't even had a shootaround in Barnhill that led Musselman to joke about the defense and the shooting being good on the road.
"We might be a really good road shooting team," Musselman said. "Well, the great thing is we’ve never practiced in Bud Walton, so maybe we’ll shoot the crap out of it when we go there, I mean, I think it’s a good sign. We didn’t shoot around here today either. When we practiced today, we practiced in our practice court, so the first time they were ever in here shooting was tonight. Great for our offense. I don’t know who our defensive coordinator is but he’s got a lot of work to do tomorrow."
Former Morrilton standout Joseph Pinion led all scorers with 20 points while helping the Red team to the comeback win. Pinion was 7-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from both behind the 3-point line and the charity stripe. He also added four rebounds, a steal and one assist. His play caught Musselman's attention.
"Yeah, I think he’s definitely stronger," Musselman said. "I think he’s gained some weight, but it’s really, really good weight. I think he’s actually leaner. It’s not often you can have a player get stronger, gain a little bit of weight and lean out as well, and he’s done that.
"When he got here, he was wearing a knee brace. It was pretty heavy. I think it affected his mobility for sure. And then when you take that thing off, you’ve got to get through some (mental) stuff, too. And then he’s a freshman. And he’s been patient and I think we’re seeing a better player today than last year. Look, when Joseph got the opportunity last year, he helped us win the Missouri game. He flat out as a freshman went into the game and helped us. You know, we had enough confidence to have him in the game at the end of the Baylor game when he took the last shot that could’ve put it into overtime or whatever.
"He is not a good shooter, he’s a phenomenal shooter. He’s done a good job rebounding defensively, because that’s been an area that we felt we needed him to go to the glass defensively a little bit. He’s got to improve defensively and it starts with getting lower — having a little bit lower disposition defensively. We’re a no middle team and it should help him. I think that if a quicker player has got the ball and you know where you have to shade it, it should help him. He gave up middle a little bit too much tonight and the good thing is we’ll be able to go back and talk to him and tell him ‘Hey, you’ve just got to shade this guy where the help is.'"
Pinion said the game in front of fans was what he and the team needed.
" I was ready," Pinion said. "Tired of practice, needed a game to get in to. I just feel like I matured a lot, being around the whole team that's older. I'm the third-youngest guy on the team, so I really had to mature with these guys being older and just the physicality and how good they are. Having to go against that every day, it's automatically going to make you a better player."
It wasn't just Pinion though who played well. The Red team also had Louisville transfer El Ellis with 16 points (8-10) and six assists, Jalen Graham 15 points, six rebounds and four assists, Davonte "Devo" Davis 13 points 5-7) and three assists, Memphis transfer Chandler Lawson 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Southern Miss transfer Denijay Harris 11 points, three rebounds, a trio of assists and five steals.
The White squad was topped by Cincinnati transfer Jeremiah Davenport with 19 points (5-8 from deep), three rebounds and two assists, but six turnovers. Also on the White team Baye Fall had 13 points and three rebounds, Makhi Mitchell 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks, Layden Blocker 10 points, two rebounds and five assists, Houston transfer seven points and four assists, Washington transfer Keyon Menifield five points and three assists and Gabe Arbogast three points.
It wasn't all good news for Arkansas' Musselman though on Wednesday. Temple transfer Khalif Battle, who is expected to be a key member of the team, was on crutches after initially going through drills earlier.
"He practiced today," Musselman said. "I walked over and got in the gym and he said his foot was really sore. They took him for a preliminary look over at the football facility. At that point, nothing, there was no determination there was anything, no break or anything. But I know that they’re going to look at it again tomorrow with some different X-rays or whatever. As of now, no update, nothing other than the fact he felt uncomfortable. Not in the same spot where he had a break earlier. Same foot, but not really related as of now. But we did have more than one doctor look at him over at football. Then we had a couple more doctors in our locker room. So right now, nothing unless whatever tests they run, something comes up."
In addition, Musselman provided an update on Trevon Brazile who was the other Razorback not playing in the game. Musselman was asked if the goal was to get him back for the first exhibition game which is Friday, Oct. 20, against UT Tyler in Bud Walton Arena?
"Not necessarily," Musselman said. "With TB, we're being — like, I want TB in March. I mean, we want him to get his rhythm and all that. He's done an awesome job. He's been cleared. He's been with his rehab guy. They've done all the testing. Everything is great. Probably could've played tonight, three minutes a half, but why? We want him to go a little more three-on-three. He's been going three-on-three live after we're done with practice. So, he'll go three-on-three live one more time this week at some point.
"But he's been jumping into all of our drills. Offensively, when a player is coming back from an injury like that, that's not really an issue. The issue is, 'I'm guarding you or you or you and I got to react.' And so that's why we want to take our time. No real timeline other than we certainly — with the way it's going now, he's playing opening night."
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
