What having Keyon Menifield means for Arkansas
Arkansas basketball sophomore guard Keyon Menifield was granted a waiver from the NCAA and is immediately eligible, the UA announced Friday.
The transfer from Washington averaged 10.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game as a true freshman for the Huskies last season.
This news comes just two days after Razorback head coach Eric Musselman talked about the need for ball movement and pace on offense. Initially labeled as a "non-scholarship redshirt" for the upcoming season, Menifield has been a part of team practices since arriving on campus. He should be as familiar with the system as any first-year transfer on this roster at this point, and has a skillset that has been missing from the Arkansas roster.
“It has been a long process that we had to work through, but we are excited for Keyon and are proud of how he handled the process,” said head coach Eric Musselman. “Our staff and administration have worked hard to get this done and we appreciate their hard work. Keyon is an explosive point guard with great play-making ability.”
The Razorbacks currently rank near the bottom of the country in assists per game, racking up just 11.8 assists per game. No single player is averaging 3.0 assists per game on the season, with the two closest being guards El Ellis and Davonte Davis at 2.6 per game each. The closest behind them is wing Khalif Battle with 1.4 per game.
Outside of just general speed and ballhandling ability, Menifield is explosive off the bounce and can get by defenders with ease. With the shooters Arkansas has on the perimeter, this could lead to more drive and kicks to open shooters like Trevon Brazile and Battle. If that's the case, these will be higher quality looks for perimeter shooters, which have not always been easy to come by this year, despite a decent three point percentage as a team at 34.0%.
The crafty guard is also a strong finisher at the rim, although at Washington he didn't draw a ton of fouls or shoot a very good clip from the free throw line, shooting just 69.8% from the line on 2.0 attempts per game.
Menifield's speed and ballhandling ability will undoubtedly help with pushing tempo, and if his assist number at Washington are any indication, he could help in the team's assist issues, as well. On top of the offensive boost, Menifield's speed should also help with perimeter defense.
Musselman mentioned lateral quickness and a failure to stay in front of the ball on defense as being major factors to the overall poor defensive performance. The 6-foot-1 guard was not the best defender consistently at Washington, but playing in a defense-first system — and assuming he would buy-in and develop on that side of the ball — it should give the Razorbacks another perimeter threat defensively who can stay in front of the ball.
It is uncertain at this point exactly how much playing time Menifield will get, especially in Saturday's matchup against Lipscomb. But it could be expected that he sees some significant minutes to close out non-conference play to get acclimated to game action, into game shape and to see what the chemistry is like with the team.
One thing this does mean, though, is that an Arkansas team that was already struggling to find its core rotation has another option to evaluate. The backcourt was already crowded for minutes, and now becomes even more so. The response to another guard being eligible to play will be one to watch because there are only so many minutes to go around.
At the absolute very least, Arkansas' team just got much, much faster, and that can only be a good thing offensively.