Arkansas Basketball Production Report: Battle, Mark Lead Way in Opener
FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 14 Arkansas Razorbacks had 12 different players score points during Monday's season-opening 93-59 victory over Alcorn State inside Bud Walton Arena.
Redshirt sophomore forward Trevon Brazile scored 13 points and brought down six rebounds, while Temple transfer Khalif Battle added a game-high 21 points and three boards and Houston transfer Tramon Mark notched 16 points with a team-high four three pointers of his own in the contest.
The Razorbacks shot 51.9% from the field and 40.0% from three against the Braves. Arkansas forced 16 turnovers and recorded 10 steals as a team. The Hogs also won on the boards 44-26.
HawgBeat has a breakdown of stats, the starting five, notable performers, our most valuable player and more...
Box Score
Starting Five
#3 - G El Ellis - GRAD-SR, 6'3", 180 lbs.
If you watch the film, you'll see Ellis struggle probably the most that he has in a Razorback uniform, which was just three games that didn't mean anything prior to Monday.
Despite giving the ball away three times, the Louisville transfer still filled up the stat sheet with eight points, four assists and a plus-minus of 19.
"El (Ellis), you know 23 minutes, I mean, we’ve historically been a great point guard rebounding team," head coach Eric Musselman said postgame. "Tonight, El’s 23 minutes, Layden (Blocker)’s 10, we didn’t have a defensive rebound and we have to — we need our guards to go back there and help on the glass, so those are areas for us to get better at for sure."
#4 - G Davonte Davis - SR, 6'4", 185 lbs.
There's no doubt that Devo Davis is the leader of this season's Arkansas team, but he might not be relied on so heavily as a scorer like he was late last year. The defensive prowess is as good as it ever was with the senior from Jacksonville, though.
In 23:38 minutes of game action, Davis recorded one steal, one block and grabbed three defensive rebounds.
On top of that, he added five points and a team-high five assists despite not playing as the true point guard for most of the game.
"I thought across the board, he played really well," Musselman said. "Made some great passes. The most important thing is Devo didn’t have a turnover. I thought our point guard play — we got to take better care of the ball, for sure. Maybe Devo slides over there and plays a little bit more point guard. We’ll go back and watch the film and discuss that."
#12 - G Tramon Mark - JR, 6'6", 185 lbs.
He might be viewed as the second best defender on the team behind Davis, but Mark also continues to prove that he's a more-than-capable scorer. He led the team with 13 points in the first half on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting from deep.
The junior guard ended the game as the team's second-leading scorer with 16 points, but led the way with four made 3-pointers.
"T-Mark against Purdue played a lot of point guard for us, and I didn't play him at that position tonight at all," Musselman said. "Probably slide him over there at times. In hindsight, I tried to get everybody in the game and give everybody an opportunity. I'll probably go back tonight and self-critique that I played him there in a game that was back and forth against the No. 3 team in the country and then tonight I didn't give him an opportunity to play the point. I need him to get some reps there."
#2 - F Trevon Brazile - R-SO, 6'10", 220 lbs.
It's time to start talking about Brazile being a potential top-10 selection in next year's NBA draft. In his first official game back from the torn ACL that cut his 2022-23 season short, Brazile took no time to shake the rust off.
Despite leaving the game early on in the second half after being ejected for leaving the bench during an altercation between Battle and Alcorn State's Willie Anderson, Brazile still managed to score 13 points on 4-5 shooting.
He also added six total rebounds and one steal, and tied for the team lead in plus-minus score at plus-23.
"He’s improved as a shooter," Musselman said of Brazile. "I thought athletically tonight, he rose above a lot of people. Yeah, I would say he’s 100% healthy and kind of fearless the way he’s jumping and rebounding in traffic."
#8 - F Chandler Lawson - GRAD-SR, 6'8", 210 lbs.
After having a surprising amount of success against a Purdue team that had the reigning national player of the year in Zach Edey, Lawson fell down back to Earth a bit against Alcorn State.
In just 7:55 minutes on the court, the senior forward scored just two points while collecting two rebounds and one steal.
MVP - Khalif Battle
With a game-high 21 points, Battle is HawgBeat's MVP following the season-opening win.
"I’ve been seeing this since he’s gotten here," forward Jalen Graham said of Battle. "We knew coming in what he could do. Since day one, he’s been a scorer, a team guy. It’s nothing new. Like he said, we’ve got a lot of good players. We’ve seen it in practice. We go at it in practice, so nothing new."
Refer below for more on Battle's performance...
Other notable performers
#0 - G Khalif Battle - GRAD-SR, 6'5", 185 lbs.
A transfer from Temple, Battle has been a scorer for a while. He averaged 21.4 points in just seven games during his 2021-22 season, which was cut short due to a foot injury. He then scored 17.9 points per game while coming off the bench for the majority of last season.
Now in Fayetteville, Battle is still proving that he's as good of a scorer as the Razorbacks have. He can go up, he can go under and he can just straight up knock 'em down from three with hands right in his face. Oh, and he can also make contested dunks
"When we signed him, we felt like he was as explosive a scorer as we've seen," Musselman said. "He can rise up. He can get his own shot. He's got deep range. He can make his foul shots and he can draw fouls. I'm not surprised with how he's played. I thought he may be a little rusty, but he's a gym rat. He lives in the gym."
#11 - F Jalen Graham - 5TH-YR SR, 6'10", 220 lbs.
After missing both preseason exhibition games with back spasms, Graham finally returned to the court for the Hogs Monday. He scored eight points and grabbed a team-best eight rebounds in 14 minutes.
"He rebounded the ball with some physicality, kind of grab and go," Musselman said. "He got a defensive rebound and pushed it with some good pace. I thought he played really good."
#15 - F Makhi Mitchell - 5TH-YR SR, 6'10", 240 lbs.
Mitchell played just four minutes — all in the first half — and didn't record any stats other than a foul.
#24 - G Jeremiah Davenport - GRAD-SR, 6'6", 215 lbs.
After missing his first five shots — all from three — Davenport finally got his sixth and final 3-point attempt to fall late in the second half. The Cincinnati transfer also added three rebounds, three assists and one block.
#6 - G Layden Blocker - FR, 6'2", 175 lbs.
It was a good start and a tough finish for Blocker, who fouled out with 5:51 to play. He recorded one assist, one steal and one turnover while missing the only shot he took in 10 minutes of play.
#5 - G Joseph Pinion - SO, 6'5", 195 lbs.
Like Davenport, Pinion also struggled from three despite being known as a knockdown shooter. The sophomore scored seven points and was 1-of-3 from the field. He hit all four of his shots from the free throw line and also added one rebound, one block and two assists.
#7 - F Denijay Harris - GRAD-SR, 6'7", 200 lbs.
A transfer from Southern Miss, Harris played 12 minutes and scored five points while bringing down seven boards. He played with plenty of hustle and also added two assists.
#10 - C Baye Fall - FR, 6'11", 215 lbs.
After not playing in the exhibition against Purdue last time out, Fall was on the court for nine minutes Monday. Like his fellow freshman Blocker, Fall fouled out in the second half. He scored four points, brought down four boards, blocked two shots and grabbed two steals in his time.
* Walk-ons Lawson Blake and Cade Arbogast rounded out the players who saw the court Monday. The pair played late in the second half and Blake scored one point on a free throw.