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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Razorback freshman guard Barry Dunning coming to town was likely overshadowed by three McDonald's All-Americans.
Five-star freshmen Nick Smith Jr., Jordan Walsh and Anthony Black have been the talk of the 2022 Arkansas recruiting class. People tend to overlook Dunning, who was a Rivals three-star forward coming out of McGill Toolen in Mobile, Alabama.
The people of Alabama might know Dunning's name after he earned the following honors in high school: two-time Gatorade Alabama Player of the Year (2021, 2022), 2022 MaxPreps Alabama Player of the Year, 2022 Alabama Mr. Basketball and 1st team All-State by the Alabama Sports Writers Association, Three-time 6A first-team All-State selection by ASWA.
As a senior, Dunning averaged 25.3 points, 12.9 rebounds, 3.3 steals, 2.6 assists and 1.7 blocks per game. He also averaged a double-double as a junior, racking up 21.5 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game.
Now, Razorback fans are starting to learn his name. Not just fans, but former Hogs who are now playing on the professional level have taken notice of how good Dunning is.
"Very interesting, with our former players that have come in and played pickup ball," head coach Eric Musselman said. "Isaiah (Joe), Jimmy Whitt, Mason (Jones), and Dusty (Hannahs)…They’ve all brought up that they liked playing with Barry. It was very, very interesting."
Dunning did not even know that those guys enjoyed playing with him until he was asked about it. He said that it was pretty cool to hear that.
"Kind of (in) awe," Dunning said. "I'm glad I got a compliment for that. Thanks to Coach Muss. He's just teaching me the game, teaching me how to play the right way and play with those guys. You know, they've been there where we're all trying to get to. Just playing with them, playing the right way, you see a lot of success in that. And I'm just grateful for the compliment and right now I'm enjoying it."
The 2022-23 Arkansas basketball team is one where minutes are going to be hard to come by. From top to bottom, the squad is loaded with highly-touted recruits and transfers.
Musselman normally keeps his rotations in the 7-8 man range, but he might go over that this season. He said the team is very deep this season.
"There’s no doubt we have a really, really talented team," Musselman said. "We have a really deep team. And so (the freshmen) are probably trying to figure out their way."
Though the competition can be fierce, Musselman said Dunning has looked as good as any player on the court in some practices.
"Barry Dunning, he’s had some practices where I thought he was as good as anybody we had out there," Musselman said.
Dunning and his teammates will get their first chance at live action when they play Valencia Seleccion at 12:30 p.m. CT at La Alqueria del Basket in Valencia, Spain. The game will be streamed on FloHoops.
