9/28/2023 basketball Edit

Mizzou Basketball opponent preview: Arkansas

Drew King • PowerMizzou

Basketball Writer

In this series, we’ll look ahead at Mizzou’s opponents in the upcoming 2023-24 season. We’ll continue by previewing the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Date & Location: Jan. 31 at Mizzou Arena and Feb. 24 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.

2022-23 Record: 22-14 overall (8-10 SEC)

NCAA Tournament Finish: Defeated No. 9 seed Illinois in Round of 64, 73-63, defeated No. 1 seed Kansas in Round of 32, 72-71, lost to No. 4 seed UConn in Sweet 16, 88-65

KEY LOSSES

Anthony Black (drafted), Ricky Council IV (declared for draft), Barry Dunning Jr. (transferred), Derrion Ford (transferred), Kamani Johnson (graduated), Makhel Mitchell (transferred), Nick Smith Jr. (drafted), Jordan Walsh (drafted)

KEY RETURNERS

Trevon Brazile, Davonte Davis, Jalen Graham, Makhi Mitchell, Joseph Pinion

KEY INCOMING TRANSFERS

Khalif Battle (Temple, 17.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.8 apg), Jeremiah Davenport (Cincinnati, 9.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 1.5 apg), El Ellis (Louisville, 17.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 4.4 apg), Denijay Harris (Southern Miss, 8.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 0.6 apg), Chandler Lawson (Memphis, 5.0 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.8 apg), Tramon Mark (Houston, 10.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 1.8 apg)

KEY INCOMING FRESHMEN (rankings from Rivals.com)

Layden Blocker (No. 24), Baye Fall (No. 36)

OUTLOOK

It usually takes Arkansas until late in the season to put everything together. That was the case for the Razorbacks last year. The team brought in the No. 2 recruiting class in the country, banking on the talent of a trio of five-star freshmen to push them to the top of the SEC and make a deep run in March.

Arkansas got hammered by injuries throughout the year, though, losing sophomore forward Trevon Brazile to a torn ACL and missing starting freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. for most of the season. Through their first seven games of conference play, Missouri was the only team the Hogs had beaten.

The team did manage, to turn things around, though. Arkansas finished the regular season with an 8-10 SEC record, reached the quarter-finals of the league tournament and made it to the second weekend of the Big Dance for the third consecutive season.

Head coach Eric Musselman saw the majority of his rotation enter the draft or the transfer portal. He returns just two starters, two rotational players and Brazile. Senior guard Davonte Davis will be the most important of the group as a do-everything guard who can switch across multiple positions on defense and has seen his 3-point shot improve every year, making 34.6% of his treys last season. Senior forward Makhi Mitchell will reprise his role as the team’s starting center, anchoring the defense and crashing the boards. According to KenPom, Mitchell was top 500 among NCAA Divison I players in steal percentage, top 300 in offensive rebounding percentage, top 150 in defensive rebounding percentage and top 100 in blocking percentage.

Brazile could find himself in the starting lineup if he returns to form after his injury as an athletic and lengthy forward who can step out and shoot triples. Senior forward Jalen Graham could see his minutes climb coming off the bench, as he nearly matched Mitchell’s offensive rebounding rate. And while sophomore guard Joseph Pinion wasn’t the crown jewel of Arkansas’ 2022 class, he proved to be a reliable shooter, knocking down 38.2% of his treys.

Rather than load up on highly-touted freshmen to fill out the rest of the roster again, Musselman pivoted this offseason by bringing in a large transfer class ranked 16th in the nation by EvanMiya.com. Temple guard Khalif Battle and Houston forward Mark Tramon are the most likely to start. Battle was an explosive scorer well-equipped at finding his own shot in isolations and will help replace some of what the Razorbacks lost in former guard Ricky Council IV, the team's leading scorer. Tramon was a regular starter for a Cougars team that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and will help Arkansas maintain its defensive identity.

El Ellis was one of Louisville’s few bright spots throughout a disastrous season and should be one of the first players off the bench in the backcourt. Cincinnati transfer Jeremiah Davenport and Memphis transfer Chandler Lawson should compete for minutes at the forward spots while Southern Miss transfer Denijay Harris could see time on the wing. Washington guard Keyon Menifield transferred in during the offseason as well but will spend this year on the roster as a non-scholarship redshirt.

Musselman did add a pair of four-star freshmen in Layden Blocker and Baye Fall. Blocker appears to be the Hogs’ point guard of the future and will get his feet wet this year backing up a handful of upperclassmen. And Fall profiles similarly to Brazile as a bouncy big man but will need to develop his offensive skills to make a big impact.

Mizzou split its series with Arkansas last season, the games coming down to a combined nine points with each team winning at home. The Tigers and Razorbacks might continue to see close contests when they play each other this year.