Junior guard JD Notae injured his wrist early into off-season workouts this summer. The Jacksonville transfer sat out last year in compliance with NCAA transfer rules and was forced to sit a little longer because of the injury.
“JD looked better than a hundred percent,” Razorback coach Eric Musselman said at an October 14th press conference. The comment came after a question about Notae’s recovery. “He dropped 5 out of 6 from three in live play and he looked good.”
Shortly after, Musselman was asked if there was “anything keeping him up at night” this season. He indicated that it's the search for a go-to guy.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Musselman said. “we’re trying to figure out who is that guy when we try to put something down on paper and it doesn’t work, who can go make miraculous plays when we need them? We’re going to miss that certainly from Mason and then Isaiah taking two steps across half court and having the ability to knock down a three ball or having that threat.”
Notae has the advantage of being in the system for a full year to know what to expect in practices and on gamedays, but now he’s looking forward to competing in a Razorback uniform.
“It’s more exciting now,” Notae said today. “Now we’re [he and fellow transfer Connor Vanover] looking forward to playing instead of just having to go watch the games.”
Notae said he’s improved the most in his shooting ability, further proving Musselman’s statement from two weeks ago. In addition to developing his shot, Notae said he worked on adding the ability to create offensively.
Notae said he worked on “being able to create space, getting defenders on my hip and just being able to get my shot off… There’s gonna be bigger, stronger, faster defenders in the SEC so I feel like I need to be able to get my shot off quicker.”
Notae’s work has been noticed by both his teammates and head coach.
“JD’s done a great job of trying to play the combo guard, which obviously it’s difficult to go from a scorer to a distributor, but he’s done a really good job with that," Musselman said Friday.
Graduate transfer Justin Smith has also been impressed with Notae’s performance since he left Indiana for Arkansas.
“What impressed me the most is his natural ability to score and kind of get downhill and get the defense on their heels,” Smith said. “He’s always looking to make a play and he’s been really impressive so far.”
Even though he’s come on strong after the broken wrist, Notae said it was not easy to deal with.
“It was difficult, just, all the work that I was putting in during the summer having to be on hold because I got a broken wrist,” Notae said. “It’s still coming along just getting treatment every day trying to get back to 100 percent.”
Adding a better shot, as well as the ability to create his own shot, is something that fills the need for a roster that lost prolific scorers Mason Jones and Isaiah Joe to the NBA Draft.
At Jacksonville, Notae averaged 15.5 points per game over a two-year span. He shot 35.2% from behind the arc, which would’ve put him at second on last year’s team behind only Adrio Bailey (38.5%). Jones and Joe shot 35.1% and 34.2% last seasons, respectively.
The Razorback roster will be equipped with more talent and scorers than last season but is absent a go-to scorer. With his natural scoring ability, shooting improvement, and additions to his skillset, Notae could very well fill that role for the Razorbacks this season.
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