Arkansas’ basketball program added the signature of former Bryant and Oak Hill (Va.) Academy guard Khalen “KK” Robinson on Monday to complete its acquisition of four of the state's best players.
Robinson (6-0, 170 pounds) averaged 10.7 points, 7.5 assists, 4.8 rebounds and 3.7 steals per game last season for Oak Hill (37-3), which ended the season ranked No. 7 nationally by ESPN.
“KK, one, he’s a great competitor,” Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said, "very serious-minded about the game. Really good speed with the basketball, really unselfish. I mean, when I watched him at Oak Hill he played with some guys who could really score the ball. And he was perfectly content to make his teammates better, to share the ball.
“He’s got great court vision. He’s really good in transition. He’s a point guard who’s a facilitator. Then, defensively, he can put great pressure on the ball. He can pick up in the backcourt and turn ball handlers. I think he’s a guy that he’s really good at advance passes.
“That’s the one thing that when different staff members went to watch him practice at Oak Hill was his ability to lead transition points, both off the bounce and off of advance passes.
Robinson joins a Razorback 2020 signing class that is ranked sixth nationally by ESPN. It also includes Jacksonville guard Davonte Davis (6-4, 175), former North Little Rock and Montverde (Fla.) Academy guard Moses Moody (6-6, 200) and Fort Smith Northside big man Jaylin Williams (6-10, 230).
Musselman believes Moody and Robinson playing for prep schools has helped prepare them for college.
“With any player who plays at a high level or has great teammates, you look at a guy like Moses…and KK, they were both really unselfish with on their high school teams,” Musselman said. “When you go to college, obviously it is a step up for everybody, but I think both of those guys really understand what team basketball is.
“Both of those guys played for two coaches that could be college coaches with zero doubt. There is zero doubt that could be college level coaches, probably better than a lot of college coaches to be honest with you. I mean they are probably better than a lot of college head coaches for sure.
“So they are coming from great, great programs, have been well-coached and understand what team basketball is.”
Moody is a versatile player.
“I think just his ability to be a three-level scorer,” Musselman said. “I think that we loved his size at 6-6. He’s done an incredible job of adding strength and weight. He’s up to 200 pounds now. He’s an extremely underrated offensive rebounder, I think with his stuff around the rim with his flip shots.
“We all know he’s a great 3-point shooter. His 3-point percentage at Montverde tells you that. We know he’s a very very good free-throw shooter, his percentages tell you that. I think he can be a very good defender with his length. I think he’ll be an excellent rebounder at that small forward/off-guard spot. So, just his versatility. I know for sure what a great teammate he is, how unselfish he is and how he plays the game the right way. He’s got a very high basketball IQ."
All four Arkansas-born players are ranked in the top 100 nationally by ESPN, with Moody 38th, Robinson 82nd, Davis 83rd and Williams 88th.
“I think that a lot of hard work went in by the entire staff, you know, to be able to get you know all four really good guys,” Musselman said, "guys that wanted to be a part of the Razorback family. Players that played all different positions for the most part. Just a really, really exciting recruiting class for us, especially our 'first' class. We as a staff as a program are absolutely thrilled.”
Musselman and his staff were not surprised about the talent they found in Arkansas.
“I think that we knew because I had known about the history,” Musselman said. “And obviously when you look at the past of how many great players have come out of this state, we were fortunate that there was four guys in the top 100. We got all four that were consensus throughout many of the different rankings.
“Those four guys were the four guys that were pretty consistent being top-100 guys and we got all of them. Extremely excited about that. It's not often you can come into a situation and have that many guys within your state and be able to land all of them.”
Musselman pointed out that the four players wanted to be college teammates.
“They did a great job recruiting each other,” Musselman said. “More important than anything we did as a staff, it was those four young guys banding together and their families, all talking through the process. Obviously three of them kind of waiting to see how we played and see what our culture looked like before signing.”
The Razorbacks have also added a pair of graduate transfers in New Mexico forward Vance Jackson (6-9, 230) and Northern Kentucky’s Jalen Tate (6-6, 210). They will join three redshirts who will become eligible next season in Connor Vanover, JD Notae and Abayomi Idioyla.