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Isaiah Joe is the first Arkansas player off the board in the 2020 NBA Draft.
The guard from Fort Smith was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round and with the 49th overall pick Wednesday night.
It is the second straight year the Razorbacks have had a player drafted. Joe follows Daniel Gafford, who was a second-round pick by the Bulls last year.
There is a chance Mason Jones could also hear his name called Wednesday night. If that happens, it’d be the first time since 1992 that multiple Arkansas players were taken in the same draft. That year, Todd Day, Oliver Miller and Lee Mayberry each went in the first round and Isaiah Morris was selected in the second round.
A four-star, Rivals150 prospect coming out of Fort Smith Northside, Joe burst onto the scene as a freshman, averaging 13.9 points and making a UA single-season record 113 three-pointers in 2018-19. That also tied the SEC record for freshman and is tied for fourth among freshmen in NCAA history.
He followed that up with a sophomore campaign in which he averaged 16.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.4 steals. His scoring - which included an SEC-high 94 three-pointers - ranked seventh in the conference.
However, a knee injury suffered in the middle of SEC play required a minor procedure that forced him to miss multiple games. The Razorbacks beat TCU without Joe, but later lost five straight games during his absence.
His three-point shooting percentage dipped from 41.4 percent as a freshman to 34.2 percent last season, but he’s still one of the most prolific shooters in UA history. In just two seasons, he ranks seventh on Arkansas’ all-time list with 203 career three-pointers.
Joe - who opted to forgo his final two seasons of eligibility to enter the NBA Draft - also shattered the Razorbacks’ career record for most threes made per game, averaging 3.44 over 59 games. Rotnei Clarke previously held the record at 2.98.
