FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas guard Davonte Davis is getting his groove back.
Following a six-game November that saw him shoot 38.1%, not attempt a field goal or score in the season opener and fail to reach double figures in three consecutive games for the first time since the beginning of Southeastern Conference play last season, the 6-4 guard is starting to look like the player who starred for the Razorbacks down the stretch in 2020-21.
In Arkansas’ 93-78 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday, Davis turned in one of the best all-around performances of his college career, finishing with 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting and a career-high 7 assists. And he did not commit a turnover in his 28 minutes on the floor.
Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman said he could tell Davis was locked in at the team’s shootaround Saturday morning and believed he may be in for a big afternoon.
“I thought he played on a different level,” Musselman said. “We’ve talked, we’ve showed him film and for him to go out and have seven assists and zero turnovers, quite frankly, he played flawlessly at the 1.
“I thought he was great.”
According to Sports Reference, Davis became the fifth Arkansas guard since 2010-11 to total at least 16 points and 7 assists in a game without a turnover. He is the first since Jalen Tate finished with 17 points and 11 assists against Central Arkansas in a 100-75 victory last season.
Daryl Macon, Anton Beard and Julysses Nobles round out the list of Razorbacks to match or exceed those numbers in the last 11 years.
Davis spread his seven assists to five different players and generated 15 Arkansas points, and he displayed a strong connection with Jaylin Williams, who scored three times off his feeds. Davis also found Trey Wade, Stanley Umude, Jaxson Robinson and Au’Diese Toney for buckets.
“Devo reminds me of myself some,” UALR coach and former Arkansas All-American guard Darrell Walker said. “He guards and you don’t have to run any plays for him and he still can score. He is a glue guy.
“He is a really good teammate and plays as hard as heck.”
The sophomore, of late, is making positive strides as a facilitator and showcasing greater comfortability as the Razorbacks’ offense-initiating guard. Saturday’s game marked the third of the season for Davis with five or more assists.
He had four such games during his freshman year. And according to KenPom data, his assist rate through eight games stands at 19.0%. It was 15.7% last season.
In terms of scoring the basketball, Davis is putting far greater pressure on the rim in December than in the first month of the season. He has returned to providing Arkansas with quick-strike offense in transition, cutting away from the ball and attempting shots that made him successful a season ago.
To put his recent uptick in aggressiveness into perspective, Davis finished 8 of 9 two-point attempts against the Trojans. He did not make his eighth two-point shot this season until Arkansas’ fifth game.
Davis, too, has made more two-point attempts (14) in the last two games than in six games last month (12).
“I thought his shot selection was great, because we need him to score,” Musselman said. “He’s a scoring point guard. But again, to have zero (turnovers), the only unfortunate thing was he only got to play 28 minutes because of fouls.
“A lot guys would say 28 minutes is a lot, but I would have played him 40, quite frankly, if he wouldn’t have been in foul trouble.”