As he continues to assess his recruiting options, former Springdale Har-Ber and current Southwest Christian Academy guard Avery Benson will get in some action this Saturday night in Memphis.
Benson (6-foot-4, 175 pounds) and Razorback signees Daniel Gafford (6-11, 223), Khalil Garland (6-6, 190) and Darious Hall (6-7, 210) are among the players that will represent Arkansas against Memphis prep stars in the annual Mike Conley Challenge.
There will be a girls game at 6 p.m., with the boys contest slated for 7:30 p.m. at Memphis University High School.
"It will be a lot of fun and a great experience," Benson said. "I have played with most of these guys in summer ball. It is one last summer ball go-around. It will definitely be a fun time and hopefully we will go out there and take care of business and get the W."
The Arkansas squad will be coached by former Arkansas and NBA center Joe Kleine and will include Little Rock Parkview's Javon Franklin (6-6, 190), El Dorado's Czar Perry (6-2, 170), J.A. Fair's Kris Bankston (6-8, 220) and the Southwest Christian Academy duo of Toronto native Gabe Osabuohien (6-8, 219).
"That is a great group of guys to play with, a ton of talent and we all want to represent our state the best we can," Benson said.
Arkansas coach Mike Anderson and assistant Melvin Watkins recently visited Southwest Christian to look at junior point guard Shakur Daniel (6-5, 190) and seniors Osabuohien, Benson and Mladen Armus (6-10, 215) of Belgrade, Serbia.
"I've gotten interest from TCU, Texas Tech, Arkansas, Colorado and Colorado State," Benson said. "I will figure it out in the next couple of weeks."
The Razorbacks have one open spot in the 2017 class, but are looking at several prospects in case Macon decides to forego his senior season.
Benson, a first-team NACA All-American this season after averaging 16 points a game, made it clear an offer from Arkansas would be a dream come true.
"They would definitely be my top pick because I am from up there and it's home," Benson said. "My parents live five minutes from campus. It is literally where I grew up and ran around so it will definitely be a dream come true."
Benson had a solid junior season at Har-Ber, but chose to transfer to Southwest Christian to face better competition.
The Lions went 34-3 this season, won the Texas Christian Athletic League with a 10-1 mark and finished the season with a 54-44 win over Mountain Mission in the NACA National Championship game in Dayton, Tenn.
"I moved to Southwest Christian and had a great year, a great senior year where we won a lot of games and that is probably why it was so much fun," Benson said. "We just finished a couple weeks ago."
He noted practice was a challenge in itself.
"One thing that made me a lot better was just going against guys like Gabe, who is also one of the All-Stars," Benson said. "They are all high-caliber players and I mean practicing with them every day was a big advantage.
"That goes along with who I practiced against every day. I took leaps and bounds having to play and develop news skills to play against these guys, big guys, fast guys so definitely my game improved a lot.
"Also the competition we played in games was just out of this world. Teams like Hamilton Heights and Shai Alexander, who is going to Kentucky, and all those great players and teams. It as definitely a big difference and a big change."
Sports on 04/06/2017