Arkansas forward Kamani Johnson told reporters ahead of the start of the NCAA Tournament that March is when the men come to play, and Razorback freshman Jordan Walsh has taken his teammate's words to heart and proven that he's built for the big stage.
"I feel like March brings out the dog in people," Walsh said Monday. "It’s bringing out the dog in me. It’s boosted all attributes of my game. I feel like it’s made me to be even more of a competitor than I already was. I feel like for those reasons, my confidence has skyrocketed to be able to help my team win in any situation."
The Hogs secured a pair of wins over 9-seed Illinois and 1-seed Kansas during the first weekend of the tournament, and Walsh played a key role during each contest to help clinch a spot in the Sweet Sixteen for his team.
In the 73-63 first round win over Illinois, Walsh scored six points and added four rebounds and three steals. During the 72-71 upset of the Jayhawks, the five-star freshman scored 10 points, had three rebounds and added a pair of steals.
While he might not fill up the stat sheets like a usual McDonald's All-American, Walsh is comfortable with the role he is in and he had the best plus-minus of any Arkansas player in both of the tournament wins.
"I take a lot of pride in the small things that help the team win," Walsh said. "And I feel like the plus-minus is just a reflection of what you do to help the team win. With me being a guy who’s going to dive on the floor for loose balls, or guard their best player and get a stop or two. I feel like those things are reflected by that.
"That’s what’s most important to me, and winning. I feel like it’s a reflection of what’s most important to me when it comes to competing and winning a game."
While some five-star freshmen go into a program wanting to score 20-plus points per night, Walsh came to Arkansas just wanting to win — especially in March.
"Coming into college as a McDonald’s All-American, most people think you want to go out and score 20 points and get 10 assists and 12 rebounds," Walsh said. "But that wasn’t really my mentality coming in. To me, coming in was just, if I can help us win at a high level in March and hopefully have us playing in the last game on television, which would be the championship, then I’ll be able to achieve the things I want to achieve without having to score 20 points or come off ball screens the whole game or do stuff like that."
Walsh has been a pest on defense, guarding some of the opponent's best defenders, most notably Big 12 Player of the Year Jalen Wilson, who Walsh managed to steal the ball from late in Saturday's win over Kansas.
Even more impressive than gaining the steal against Wilson, the Razorback freshman was able to put a spin move on Wilson after a Ricky Council IV missed free throw and Walsh tipped the ball back to Council, who drew another foul and hit two free throws to put Arkansas ahead by three.
"What’s crazy about that play was I wasn’t even about to spin off of him and go that way until I talked to Kamani (Johnson), and you know Kamani, he’s the offensive rebounding expert on our team," Walsh said. "So after Ricky made the first one, I went over to Kamani, and I was like, ‘Hey Kamani, I should X and I come over, and you come over?’
"And he was like, ‘No. No, don’t do that. Just spin off of him, and the ball will come straight to you.’ I was like, ‘Okay. I got you.’ And so I lined up, I lined up, I spun off of him, the ball came off the rim perfectly, and with my long arms, I was able to hit it kind of like off the backboard a little bit so that it hit the backboard and bounced back towards Ricky, and then he ended up catching it and laid it up again and got another foul, so things worked out perfectly. Credit to Kamani Johnson for telling me to spin."
Being part of the team for three years now, Johnson knows what it takes to be fully bought into an Eric Musselman-coached squad. He said Monday that he believes Walsh really understands what it takes to be a part of the high-level of success Arkansas has seen over the past two years, which featured a pair of Elite Eight runs.
"You learn here quick that everybody can’t score, and you kind of have to find your role and be a star in your role, and that’s how you’re going to get on the floor and get minutes for Muss," Johnson said. "I think Jordan just adapted really, really well. He kind of got down a little bit, but I like the way that he bounced back and kind of just bought in.
"Right now, I think Jordan Walsh is just super bought-in to what Muss is saying and the staff is saying and how we do things here, and that’s why he’s having the success he’s having."
Walsh and the Razorbacks will hit the hardwood once again on Thursday to face 4-seed UConn in the Sweet Sixteen. The game is set to tipoff at 6:15 p.m. CT inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, and it will be televised on CBS.
