FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman said his 14th-ranked Razorbacks took a step back as far as depth goes during an 86-68 win over Gardner-Webb inside Bud Walton Arena on Friday.
Temple transfer guard Khalif Battle led the team in scoring for the second straight game to start the season, as he notched 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field. Big man Makhi Mitchell brought down five boards and blocked four shots to prove he should be in the rotation moving forward.
Other performances that will be highlighted below helped the Hogs past the Bulldogs, but a slow start and a bad finish from bench players looking to become rotational pieces left Musselman disappointed.
"We gave guys an opportunity tonight, and we did not play very well the last nine minutes of the game — at all," Musselman said after the game.
As far as the rotation moving forward goes, Musselman had a pretty straight forward opinion on where things stand.
"Oh, it's drilled down," Musselman said of the rotation. "I can already tell you that. Tonight was... you play your way in or you play your way out."
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.
On the same night that his former team — Louisville — lost to Chattanooga, Ellis scored 13 points, grabbed six rebounds and notched three assists on the evening. He looked much better than he did in the season opener Monday.
"Honestly, I’m just happy to be on a winning team," Ellis said after the game. "Be able to win. That’s my main thing. I get to play with a really good group of guys. I’ve got a great staff. So really for me, I’m just having fun winning. That’s all that matters to me right now. My play will speak for itself as the games go on."
#4 - G Davonte Davis - SR, 6'4", 185 lbs.
Friday featured a rather disappointing showing from the fan-favorite senior guard. Davis was just 2-of-8 shooting from the field and 0-of-4 from three. He brought down five rebounds to go with his four points, two assists and one steal.
#12 - G Tramon Mark - JR, 6'6", 185 lbs.
Mark once again proved to be a crafty scorer, who can pull up and hit just about any midrange attempt. He scored 14 points and took a team-high 12 attempts. Mark brought down three rebounds and added two assists and a block.
"His pull-up game is really, really good," Musselman said. "I give him credit, he took two threes, and it wasn't there for him tonight. And then he got to his sweet spot. Other guys need to take a page out of that back as well and understand that if you're not knocking threes down, you've got to get to the mid-range or to the cup and back cut and get some easy baskets."
#2 - F Trevon Brazile - R-SO, 6'10", 220 lbs.
Brazile played just 24 minutes, but he made a big impact during that time. The redshirt sophomore forward scored 10 points and brought down seven rebounds, while adding five of the team's 15 blocks — which is the most ever by a Musselman-coached team at the college level.
"I think when you look at TB’s five blocks, most of them came against a 4 man who was an elite dribble driver," Musselman said.
#8 - F Chandler Lawson - GRAD-SR, 6'8", 210 lbs.
Lawson started his second straight game to begin the year, but there might be a change at the center spot coming soon. The Memphis transfer played just 9:37 of Friday's game and he scored five points while adding three rebounds and a steal.
"I think it probably is going to be a different guy maybe for us at that spot," Musselman said after the game. "And I haven't put Brazile over there yet. Probably my fault not moving him over there a little bit. Execution. Doing what we want. Knowing the plays. And then us maybe having four guards out there.
"But, first two games we've won by pretty good margin, and we've gotten a lot of players in to evaluate. I think sometimes when we've gotten to the fourth of fifth game in years past, I've wished we had looked at some others... We've looked now. We've got the whole summer. I pretty much know now where we're at."
MVP - Khalif Battle
We're going to go with Battle as our MVP for the second straight game. He creates so much offense all on his own, and Musselman made it clear that Battle played a big role in the win.
"He saved us offensively," Musselman said. "His shot selection was a 10 out of 10. Other guys need to improve their shot selection. We don't need heat check shots when you're not hot. It's called heat check because when you're hot, then you can take an ill-advised shot."
More on Battle below...
Other notable performers
#0 - G Khalif Battle - GRAD-SR, 6'5", 185 lbs.
The first man off the bench for the Hogs, Battle once again led the team with 21 points. He was 5-of-9 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from three.
"He’s been phenomenal," Musselman said. "Battle is a starter. He’s just not hearing his name called right away. He’s been our most efficient offensive player. He stretches the floor, he can play one-on-one, he can draw free throws. He’s a good foul shooter. He did a decent job on the defensive backboards tonight. Really happy with how he played."
Battle scored 10 of his game-high 13 first half points in the final five minutes of the half. He was making contested shots as he fell away and made them look effortless.
"We know what he can do," Brazile said of Battle. "We watched him the whole offseason. He’s probably one of the better shooters that I’ve played with. Just continue to let him get the ball. Keep his confidence high, and we know what he can do."
#15 - F Makhi Mitchell - 5TH-YR SR, 6'10", 240 lbs.
After not contributing much in the opener Monday, Mitchell stepped up and made a strong case to start with his performance Friday. The big man had five points, five rebounds, four blocks and two assists.
"He really gets guys involved," Ellis said of Mitchell. "He rebounds it hard. He runs the floor. He sets ball screens for us really well, so he played really well tonight."
#11 - F Jalen Graham - 5TH-YR SR, 6'10", 220 lbs.
Another player trying to earn a starting spot at center is Graham, who played nine minutes and scored four points. Graham also grabbed three boards and had a block.
"I thought Graham played really good offensively, too," Musselman said.
#24 - G Jeremiah Davenport - GRAD-SR, 6'6", 215 lbs.
Davenport actually played more minutes than Graham on Friday. The Cincinnati transfer logged just over 11 minutes of game time and he had five points, three rebounds and one block.
#10 - C Baye Fall - FR, 6'11", 215 lbs.
Fall is another big man trying to prove he should be in the rotation, but it'll be tough for him as a freshman. He played just under 10 minutes against the Bulldogs and had four rebounds, two blocks and one steal. Fall missed the two free throws he shot.
#5 - G Joseph Pinion - SO, 6'5", 195 lbs.
Pinion played just over eight minutes and he recorded five points and a block. He was 2-of-3 from the field with an impressive first half dunk.
#7 - F Denijay Harris - GRAD-SR, 6'7", 200 lbs.
A transfer from Southern Miss, Harris checked in late in the second half and played just over two minutes. He had one assist, one turnover and he missed a pair of free throws.
#6 - G Layden Blocker - FR, 6'2", 175 lbs.
Did not play due to illness.
*Walk-ons Lawson Blake and Cade Arbogast also played in the final moments of the second half. Arbogast missed the one shot he took.
