In the two games since star sophomore forward Trevon Brazile went down with a season-ending torn ACL, no player has stepped up more for the No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks than freshman Jordan Walsh.
In the Dec. 10 win over Oklahoma, Walsh played 31 minutes and recorded 12 points, three rebounds, one assist, two steals and a block. A week later, in Saturday's 76-57 win over Bradley, Walsh scored a career-high 18 points and added three rebounds and four steals.
Head coach Eric Musselman said Walsh just continues to get better.
"You can see his confidence continue to grow each game," Musselman said. "The last two games the energy that he’s played with has been really, really on another level."
Walsh said his performance in the win over Oklahoma gave him a lot of confidence going into the Bradley game. Musselman told Walsh to play with more confidence and after that, he knew he was about to flip a switch.
"As soon as he told me that, I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m fixing to turn up,'" Walsh said. "I’m going to listen to him and play with more confidence. If I’m more confident then it’ll open up my game a little bit more for me and my teammates."
Walsh made all seven of his shots from the field, including a three, in Saturday's win at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock. Though he fouled out with 7:06 to play in the second half, he showed that he can be a very valuable piece moving forward.
"He's making threes with his feet set," Musselman said. "He's not taking a high volume, but the quality of shot selection Jordan has had has been very, very good. In Europe, he learned going to the basket and finishing with contact and to go strong to the cup. I think he's really improved in that area to in going with some authority to the rim."
Walsh said after the game that the whole thing was possible because he watched a lot of film with assistant coach Keith Smart to study weaknesses of the opponent.
"He’s watched a lot of film," Musselman said. "I just think that certain times kind of, ‘Hey, this is what I have to do to stay on the floor. This is how my role can expand.’ I thought he played really good in Hawaii. And then the last two games he’s played phenomenal. How he played tonight, we want him to continue because we’re a better team when he plays as good as he has the last two games."
With Walsh coming along, and a strong group of starters alongside him, the Hogs are looking even better than recent years with one game to go until SEC play.
At this point last season, the Razorbacks had just lost two straight to Oklahoma and Hofstra. This year, they righted those wrongs by beating the Sooners and downing Bradley in North Little Rock.
"I think the guys are feeling comfortable with some offensive roles and I think we do have a lot of guys that can score in a variety of ways and certainly when you have a player go 7 of 7 and runs the floor like Jordan did and attacks the rim like he did, it opens things up for other guys," Musselman said.
The Hogs will return home to Bud Walton Arena on Wednesday for a game against UNC Asheville. The matchup will tipoff at 8 p.m. CT and the SEC Network will televise it.
