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Published Jan 25, 2020
Isaiah Joe to miss TCU game with injury
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Andrew Hutchinson  •  HawgBeat
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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will be without second-leading scorer Isaiah Joe for Saturday’s game against TCU.

The sophomore guard has been dealing with a knee injury since his 34-point game against Ole Miss on Jan. 11 and will now miss the first game of his career.

“Isaiah had knee inflammation after the Ole Miss game,” head coach Eric Musselman said in a statement. “He reaggravated his knee late in the Mississippi State game. The decision was made today that it would be in Isaiah’s best interest to rest his knee for the TCU game.”

Although he is the Razorbacks’ second-leading scorer at 16.8 points per game, which also ranks sixth in the SEC, Joe has been in a slump since his monster second half that carried them to a win over the Rebels.

In the three games since, he has averaged 10.0 points while shooting just 8 of 30 (26.7 percent) from three-point range. Most recently, Joe scored only five points on 2 of 13 shooting that included seven straight misses from beyond the arc after making his first attempt.

This will be just the second time Arkansas has altered its starting lineup this season. Mason Jones missed the Northern Kentucky game with a shoulder injury and was replaced with Jeantal Cylla.

Cylla is a possibility to take Joe’s spot in the lineup for the Big 12/SEC Challenge matchup with TCU, but it will likely be either be Jalen Harris if Musselman wants to stick with a four-guard lineup - which the Horned Frogs also use - or Reggie Chaney if he opts to use a bigger player.

Musselman hinted at the lineup change in Friday’s press conference to preview the game. “They might have to do some new graphics for the starting five,” he told the media.

Tip off against the Horned Frogs is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday and the game will be televised on ESPN2. Click here to follow updates in our game thread on The Trough, HawgBeat’s premium message board.