FAYETTEVILLE — Four games into his second stint at Arkansas, Jimmy Whitt is finding his footing again.
Whitt, who began his college career with the Razorbacks under former coach Mike Anderson then transferred and played two seasons at SMU, scored just two points on 1 of 4 shooting in Arkansas' season-opening win over Rice on Nov. 5. He has reached double figures in scoring and shot at least 50 percent from the floor in the three games since.
To complement sophomore guard Isaiah Joe's 33-point showing in the 82-51 win over Texas Southern on Tuesday, Whitt added 17 points - his highest total in 36 career games with the Razorbacks - and 10 rebounds, recording his sixth career double-double.
As an important stretch of nonconference play approaches (South Dakota on Friday, at Georgia Tech on Monday), Whitt appears to be falling into a rhythm on the offensive end, averaging 14.6 points in wins over North Texas, Montana and Texas Southern.
"I think each day I’m just trying to be a little better, be a little more aggressive," Whitt said. "A guy coming in with these guys who have played together, I’m trying to find my spot and ways I can help the team. I don’t want to hurt the team in any type of way.
"Finding that groove each and every game, I think I’m getting better at it and finding ways to help the team."
Whitt's bread and butter has long been an effective mid-range jumpshot, and he has already put it to good use this season. Through four games, Whitt has knocked down nine 2-point jumpers, including a season-high four on seven attempts against the Tigers.
It is not lost on Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman that Whitt's shooting form is unconventional, but he applauds his point guard for playing to his strengths offensively.
"I'm not a shooting coach for Jimmy," Musselman said with a grin after Arkansas' win Tuesday. "But it goes in and he's a great mid-range shooter. The thing is he really knows who he is and he's got great maturity about his game. He doesn't try to force the issue, he doesn't try to take shots that are out of his area to shoot.
"I think he's doing a great job for us, I really do. He's running the team, mixing in distributing the ball with trying to score, and he's picking and choosing when the right time is for him to try to break a play and try to get to the basket or get into his mid-range shot. He's been phenomenal for us."
While the Razorbacks' offense has failed to hit its stride at times, it is markedly better with Whitt in the lineup. Arkansas is scoring 1.02 points per possession when he is on the floor (230 possessions) and shooting an impressive 61.1 percent on 2-point looks, according to HoopLens analytics.
Even better, the team's offensive turnover rate is 17 percent in that span versus 20 percent when he sits.
Whitt has brought creativity off the dribble and value as an off-ball cutter in the early going, slashing to the rim as a reaction to teammates' dribble penetration. His ability to freelance offensively, too, with the shot clock winding down and generate high-percentage shots when needed has been a plus considering Arkansas' struggles from 3-point range - 273rd nationally at 28 percent.
Whitt has the team's second-highest points above median figure (3.3) at the rim in halfcourt, non-offensive rebound settings, per HoopLens. He is 10 of 15 at the rim with a pair of dunks this season.
"It’s really important. We don’t really run plays for Jimmy," Musselman said. "We’ll run some post-up plays, 2-3 a game, but he’s just kind of backing his man down and elevating and shooting over the guy in that 8-12, 13-foot range. We need him to score easy baskets for us because he shoots such a high percentage.
"Then he’s able to draw a little more traffic with the defense and make some nice dump-off passes as well."