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FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas garnered some national attention when it landed Indiana’s Justin Smith as a graduate transfer last month.
Joining the Razorbacks after starting and averaging double figures for a Big Ten school last season, the former four-star prospect will be the 10th newcomer - including three sit-out transfers from last year - on head coach Eric Musselman’s second team in Fayetteville.
Speaking to the local media for the first time since Smith’s announcement, Musselman gave fans a scouting report of sorts on his most recent transfer addition via a Zoom videoconference Wednesday afternoon.
“He’s a proven player in arguably one of the best conferences in college basketball,” Musselman said. “And he’s a high, high character guy, high basketball IQ.”
Last season, Smith started all 32 games, leading the Hoosiers in minutes (30.4 mpg) and averaging 10.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.0 steals.
Listed at 6-foot-7, 230 pounds with the Hoosiers, he will be a “key piece” for the Razorbacks in 2020-21 because of his versatility, Musselman said, which fits his style of positionless basketball.
“He’s a guy that, at his size, can play a bunch of different positions,” Musselman said. “His natural position is probably as a small forward. If you wanted to play really big, he could play the off guard. If you wanted to play small ball he could play the four spot.”
That versatility extends to the defensive end of the floor, as well. Musselman described him as an “incredible athlete” who compares favorably to a pair of critical players on last year’s team.
“When you watched him play last year he can guard so many different people,” Musselman said. “He can guard perimeter guys, because he can move his feet. He has really good anticipation. I look at him like he's a little bit like Adrio in some degrees, but also like Jimmy Whitt.”
Much like Whitt did, Musselman envisions Smith taking on a big challenge defensively in every game next season, possibly sharing that shutdown role with fellow graduate transfer Jalen Tate.
Offensively, he’s known for his ability to finish in transition and as a guy who can get out and run the wing. However, Musselman also hopes to give him an opportunity to put other aspects of his game on display with the Razorbacks.
“I also think there are some hidden areas to his game - ball handling and 3-point shooting,” Musselman said. “We want to give him the flexibility to showcase some of those perimeter skills.”
Bringing in Smith after facing him last season continued Arkansas’ trend of landing graduate transfers Musselman is familiar with this offseason.
He follows Vance Jackson from New Mexico, who Musselman faced twice while at Nevada, and Tate from Northern Kentucky, who Musselman game planned for this season despite an injury that ultimately kept him out of the game.
That’s not a coincidence, as the Razorbacks’ staff didn’t have to spend hours watching tape on them because those hours happened a long time ago in game prep. Musselman already had a vision of what they could bring to the table, so when their names popped up in the transfer portal, it wasn’t difficult to make decisions on them.
“Names were coming like every two minutes,” Musselman said. “Sometimes there were 20 names in one section of time, so you just can’t watch all of them. Certainly those three guys in particular, we had a really good feel for them as players.”
