Whitt a 'stabilizing force' in Hogs' exhibition win

Arkansas' Jimmy Whitt Jr. looks for room to get around Arkansas-Little Rock's Jaizec Lottie Sunday Oct. 20, 2019 at Bud Walton Arena win Fayetteville. The Razorbacks beat the Trojans 79-64.

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas-Little Rock coach Darrell Walker compared Arkansas guard Jimmy Whitt's game to his own in a way following the Razorbacks' 79-64 exhibition win in Bud Walton Arena on Sunday.

Like Walker, a second team All-American guard at Arkansas in 1983, Whitt is an unlikely candidate to let a jumpshot fly beyond the now-extended 3-point line. The grad transfer from SMU plays within his skillset and rarely deviates, and that is something the coach can appreciate.

"Jimmy is an old-school player," said Walker, who ranks 18th on the Razorbacks' all-time scoring list with 1,325 points. "He’s going to try to get in the paint, the same way I did as a player. He’s going to get in the paint and operate from there. I think he’s just a stabilizing force out there for Eric (Musselman)."

Whitt, who began his college career at Arkansas during the 2015-16 season, did not wow in terms of scoring (7 points) or assists (2), but his fingerprints were all over the Razorbacks' first unofficial win under Musselman. The senior finished with a team-high nine rebounds in the game, eight of which came on the defensive end.

More than once this preseason, Musselman has raved about Whitt's ability, at 6-3, to snatch rebounds. He did more of the same Sunday. In recruiting Whitt and in the process of attempting to put together a roster late, he and his staff felt Whitt was arguably the best option they had available at the guard spot for that exact reason.

"There was other players that might have been good shooters or really good ball handlers, but believe it or not, we actually feel like Jimmy Whitt is as good, if not the best rebounding point guard in the nation," Musselman noted. "He did it last year. If you look at his rebounds per minute, if you watch film of him, he’s got an incredible nose for the ball.

"We lack rebounding, so, I mean, we have a point guard tonight that goes out and leads us in defensive rebounding. That’s probably not going to be the last time that I bring that up."

In his opening remarks after the win, Musselman spoke at length about the level of execution from his starting group, which consisted of Whitt, Isaiah Joe, Desi Sills, Jeantal Cylla and Adrio Bailey. Led by Whitt, the lineup outscored UALR 22-3 in the 7:25 it shared the floor - 10-2 to begin the game and 11-1 in the opening three-plus minutes of the second half.

In that span, Musselman's starters scored at a 1.395 point-per-possession rate, and a sizzling 1.546 PPP clip after halftime.

Whitt, too, impacted the game outside of just rebounding and initiating the offense in transition and in the half court, which Musselman said was a plus in the early stages of Year 1. He gave Trojans guards fits at times with deflections, and he played passing lanes fairly well, too. Cylla, a grad transfer from North Carolina-Wilmington, remarked that Whitt really uses his length to his advantage.

Joe, the sophomore sharpshooter who was named preseason second team All-SEC last week and scored a game-high 25 points on 8 of 17 from 3-point range against UALR, went a step further in regards to Whitt's ability. He labeled the point guard an "impact player."

"He knows exactly what he's doing, he knows how to set up plays and get everybody where they're supposed to be," said Joe, who was a plus-17 in the game. "I feel like one of his biggest (assets) is on the defensive end, too, because he is long and he grabbed a lot of rebounds for us today.

"He's going to be able to grab defensive rebounds and offensive rebounds and be able to push on the break. He's just a game changer, that's what he is."