FAYETTEVILLE — New University of Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman would love to have added a big man in the recruiting class he and his assistant coaches quickly put together after being hired last season.
Kerry Blackshear, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound senior graduate transfer who averaged 14.9 points and 7.5 rebounds for Virginia Tech last season, included Arkansas among his five recruiting visits.
But Blackshear, the preseason pick for SEC player of the year, chose Florida over Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas A&M.
“When you get a job and it’s your first year, there’s a small pool of who’s available,” Musselman said when asked about a lack of big men on his roster. “It’s real small. Then you’ve got to make a decision: Do you want to take somebody you don’t think is really skilled but has size?
“So we did as best we could in a very short time. We were on some really good kids but didn’t get one. It is what it is, and you just have to play with who you have.
“I think that’s the job of any coach, regardless of sport, is figuring out a way to maximize the talent that you have on your roster.”
While the Razorbacks are short on big men, they are loaded with quality guards led by 6-5 sophomore Isaiah Joe, who hit an Arkansas record 113 3-point baskets last season in 273 attempts for 41.3% to lead the SEC.
“Great shooter. Deep range,” Musselman said of Joe. “Good ball-handler. Good passer. High basketball IQ.”
Joe, who averaged 13.9 points last season, figures to play an even bigger role in the offense with the loss of 6-11 Daniel Gafford, a first-team All-SEC pick last year who averaged 16.9 points and 8.7 rebounds and was a second-round selection by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Draft.
The NCAA has moved the 3-point line back 1 foot, 4 3/4 inches to 22-1 3/4, but Joe said he didn’t expect the longer distance to affect him.
Joe certainly looked comfortable shooting behind the new line when he hit 8 of 17 3-pointers and scored 26 points in Arkansas’ 79-64 exhibition game victory over the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
“I thought he was awesome,” Musselman said.
Other guards the Razorbacks figure to depend on heavily are 6-5 junior Mason Jones, 6-3 senior Jimmy Whitt, 6-1 sophomore Desi Sills and 6-2 senior Jalen Harris.
Jones averaged 13.6 points last season after transferring from Connors (Okla.) State College. He hit 76 of 208 3-pointers (36.8%).
“Mason’s going to be a guy we play all over the floor,” Musselman said. “He can play some two; he can play some three. We might have to play him at some four if we play small.”
Sills averaged 5.3 points and 1.3 rebounds last season but became a major contributor when he started the final eight games. In that span as a starter, he averaged 10.1 points and hit 18 of 28 3-pointers. He scored a career-high 18 points before fouling out in the Razorbacks’ season-ending 63-60 loss at Indiana and scored 15 at Kentucky.
“I thought Desi played really well when he got more minutes and felt comfortable in the role that he was in,” Musselman said after reviewing game tapes from last season. “He can really shoot. He’s a competitor.”
Sills had 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 rebounds against UALR.
“He’s a guy that can create his own shot,” Musselman said. “He’s got deep range and a quick release.”
Whitt, who transferred to Arkansas from SMU, should be familiar to Razorbacks fans. He played for Arkansas as a freshman before transferring. As a junior last season Whitt averaged 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals for SMU.
Whitt started at point guard against UALR and had 7 points, a team-high 9 rebounds and 2 assists.
“Jimmy’s got really good athleticism,” Musselman said. “His wingspan is incredible. He’s got the wingspan of a power forward or a center. Great anticipation defensively. He’s an extremely good rebounder from the guard position.”
Harris, who transferred to Arkansas from New Mexico, averaged 7.6 points, 5.6 assists and 2.9 rebounds. He had 189 assists compared to 67 turnovers.
“Jalen’s really fast with the ball,” Musselman said. “His game is scoring in transition, pushing the pace and taking care of the ball.”
Harris hit just 8 of 69 3-point attempts.
“He’s spent a lot of time working on his 3-point shooting,” Musselman said. “Hopefully, he’ll feel comfortable shooting it, and that will help in his percentage.”
Harris, who made his only 3-point attempt against UALR, got in a lot of extra shots during early-morning workouts with Jones, Joe, Sills and senior forward Jeantal Cylla.
“Jalen’s come a long way from where he was last season,” Jones said. “I’m excited to see how he shoots this season, because I know he’s ready to prove a lot of people wrong about his shot.”
Harris said he has altered his shooting technique and credited assistant coach Corey Williams, who was Stetson’s coach the previous six seasons.
“When Coach Williams got here he was telling me what was wrong with my shot,” Harris said. “I was leaning back when I was shooting, which was a really big problem.
“When I jump now, I go straight up, not back. It helps me a lot because of the arch I put on the ball now.”
Cylla, a graduate transfer, averaged averaged 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds last season at North Carolina-Wilmington and hit 33 of 116 3-pointers (31.1%). He started against UALR and had 13 points and six rebounds.
“The thing with Jeantal is he does a lot of little things pretty good,” Musselman said. “He can make an open shot, he can handle the ball a little bit, he can pass the ball. He’s a good rebounder. He’s a guy that fills the stat sheet up in a variety of ways.”
Adrio Bailey, a 6-6 senior and the only Arkansas player who has been on the roster for four years, had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists against UALR. A key for Bailey, who averaged 5.6 points and 3.0 rebounds last season, is not taking ill-advised jump shots.
Arkansas’ best big man figures to be 6-8 sophomore Reggie Chaney, who last season averaged 5.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocked shots playing primarily off the bench.
“Reggie is strong; he’s physical, and he’s got good quickness for his position,” Musselman said. “Obviously, his natural position is at the four. We’d like him to continue to develop some three-man skills. But he’s going to play a lot of five for us just based on how our roster is.”
Ethan Henderson, a 6-8 sophomore who played just 51 minutes in 12 games last season while averaging 0.9 points and 1.0 rebound, is the Razorbacks’ tallest eligible scholarship player along with Chaney. Henderson showed potential in the Razorbacks’ 84-72 NIT victory at Providence last season when he had six points and five rebounds in 18 minutes.
Musselman added 7-3 Connor Vanover — a Little Rock native who as a freshman at California last season averaged 7.5 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocked shots in 17.5 minutes per game — as a transfer, but Arkansas has been waiting to find out if he’ll be eligible to play this season.
Arkansas has applied for a waiver to the NCAA on Vanover’s behalf because his decision to transfer back home is to be closer to his ailing grandmother. A mitigating factor is that his coach at California, Wyking Jones, was fired.
If the NCAA denies the waiver, Vanover will have to redshirt this season, then will have three seasons of eligibility remaining.
“Certainly we’d be ecstatic if he could play this year,” Musselman said. “But if it’s a year from now, that’s great, too, where we can work with him from a player development standpoint.”
Two other transfers — 6-9 forward Abayomi Iyioa from Stetson and 6-2 guard JD Notae from Jacksonville (Fla.) — must redshirt this season, then will be juniors eligibility-wise for the 2020-21 season.
Musselman utilized transfers heavily at Nevada — notably twins Caleb and Cody Martin and Jordan Caroline — in leading the Wolf Pack to a 110-34 record in four seasons, including NCAA Tournament appearances the previous three seasons with a Sweet 16 trip in 2018.
Musselman said how many transfers he adds annually at Arkansas might fluctuate based on need, but he plans to make it a part of his recruiting.
“I think it’s just a change in college basketball that’s involving,” he said. “I think from an experience standpoint it’s good. But it’s got to be the right fit”
Musselman didn’t want to be specific about when Arkansas — picked to finish 11th in the SEC in a preseason poll — might be able to get back to a Sweet 16 for the first time since 1996.
“As far as putting a timetable on this thing, I don’t want to do that, because these guys want to win right now,” he said. “So for me to sit here and say, ‘Year two, year three …’ You know what? We want to be the best possible team we can be this year.”