Arkansas hoops adds walk-on graduate transfer
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Arkansas has added Brandon Kimble as a graduate transfer walk-on, a source told HawgBeat.
Kimble is a 6-foot-7, 180-pound forward who began his career at Mississippi Delta C.C. before playing last season at Mississippi Valley State.
Although the Mississippi native averaged just 4.8 points, he led the Delta Devils in rebounding at 5.9 per game.
Playing for a SWAC school that went 3-27 last season, Kimble actually put up solid numbers in a pair of games against high-major schools. He had a 9-point, 8-rebound effort at Iowa State to start the year and followed it up with a 9-point, 7-rebound performance at Utah a few days later.
Despite not being a high-volume scorer, Kimble shot 46.1 percent from the floor. He had a season-high 12 points Miami (Ohio) and also reached double figures against Southern (11 points) and Wright State (10), both on the road.
Where he could potentially help the Razorbacks, though, is as a rebounder. In a year with so much uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, Kimble is a capable walk-on with Division I experience and who was averaging 7.7 rebounds over Mississippi Valley’s first 15 games of the season.
Arkansas’ roster now has three walk-ons, with the others being fifth-year senior Emeka Obukwelu, who began his career as an all-conference performer at DIII Texas-Tyler, and incoming freshman Bryson Morehead.
That takes the Razorbacks’ roster to 15 total players. The surprising departure of Isaiah Joe on Monday knocks them back down to 12 players on scholarship, which is one shy of the maximum allowed by the NCAA for men’s basketball.
It is unclear if head coach Eric Musselman will fill that spot. With schools across the country starting their fall semesters, finding a player in the transfer portal will be extremely challenging, so it’s very possible that he leaves the spot open like he did last season.