FAYETTEVILLE — The 2020-21 University of Arkansas men’s basketball team left a lasting impression.
“This team will never be forgotten,” senior guard Jalen Tate said. “This group has done a lot for this program and the culture of this program.
“I think year two with this coaching staff, man, it puts you on a jump-start in the right direction. It sets the standard for every single year — the work that we put in and the work that the players coming in will have to put in. You’ll want to get back to this point and back to these experiences.”
The Razorbacks finished the season 25-7 and reached a point in the NCAA Tournament they hadn’t in 26 years, playing in the Elite Elite for the first time since 1995.
Baylor, ranked No. 3 nationally and the No. 1 seed in the South Region, ended Arkansas’ season one game short of the Final Four by beating the Razorbacks 81-72 on Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
“I think that all of us are really proud of the season that we’ve had,” Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. “We got scorching hot at the right time to end the season. We played with confidence. We were a basketball team that got better every single day.”
The Razorbacks were 15-3 in their last 18 games with eight victories over teams in the NCAA Tournament. Their three losses in that span were to NCAA Tournament teams — at Oklahoma State, to LSU in the SEC Tournament and to Baylor.
The Razorbacks won 12 consecutive games against SEC opponents for the first time since the 1994 national championship team did it. They were ranked No. 10 in the final Associated Press poll — the highest since the 1995 national runner-up team finished No. 6.
“I think that this run can certainly help us next season,” Musselman said. “We’ll have time to reflect once we get back. The locker room’s disappointed. We came into this game to try to win. But a phenomenal season and certainly a season in year two that we can all build upon.”
Musselman has a 45-19 record in two seasons at Arkansas, including a 20-12 mark last season when the Razorbacks were set to meet South Carolina in the second round of the SEC Tournament before it was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.
After losing guards Mason Jones and Isaiah Joe to the NBA and four starters overall, Musselman rebuilt his team with a roster that included 10 newcomers.
Injuries limited the newcomers to eight available for most of this season. Junior forward Abayomi Iyiola suffered a knee injury last summer and played just two minutes in one game after he redshirted last season. Freshman guard Khalen Robinson suffered a season-ending foot injury after playing the first 11 games.
The playing rotation included three senior graduate transfers, Tate and forwards Justin Smith and Vance Jackson; freshman guards Moses Moody and Davonte “Devo” Davis, and freshman forward Jaylin Williams; returnees in junior guard Desi Sills and junior forward Ethan Henderson; and sit-out transfers in junior guard JD Notae and sophomore forward Connor Vanover.
Moody, projected as an NBA Draft first-round pick, averaged 16.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while earning first-team All-SEC honors. He was voted the SEC’s top freshman.
“Moses is a once-in-a-lifetime player to play with, honestly, and just really a tremendous talent,” Tate said.
Smith, who transferred from Indiana, recovered quickly from ankle surgery in January and became the Razorbacks’ top presence inside on offense and defense while averaging 13.6 points and 7.3 rebounds.
Tate, who transferred from Northern Kentucky and along with Moody started every game, averaged 11.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists.
Notae was voted by coaches as the SEC sixth man of the year and averaged 12.8 points and 3.1 assists.
Davis started the final 14 games and averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds. He averaged 14.3 points and 6.5 rebounds in four NCAA Tournament games, and he hit the game-winning jump shot with 3.1 seconds to beat Oral Roberts 72-70 in a Sweet 16 matchup.
“Devo Davis is tremendous, an energizer bunny,” Tate said. “There’s not a thing he can’t do on the court, honestly.
“I’d love to see him really take on that leadership role going forward because he can do it.”
Sills started early in the season before becoming a valuable player off the bench. He averaged 7.5 points and 2.3 rebounds.
Williams began emerging midway through the season, and Musselman started him beginning in Arkansas’ second-round NCAA Tournament game against Texas Tech. Williams had team-highs of 10 rebounds and four assists to help the Razorbacks beat the Red Raiders 68-66. He averaged 3.7 points and 4.6 rebounds on the season.
“Jaylin came into his own on both sides of the ball, really,” Tate said. “By the end of the year, he was making calls that were instrumental to us getting us wins or to us getting stops. He became a tenacious rebounder. Just excellent, one of the best in the country, honestly, that I had seen.”
The 7-3 Vanover didn’t play in the final three NCAA Tournament games, but he had big games during the season while averaging 6.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots.
Jackson averaged 3.8 points and 2.0 rebounds while playing primarily off the bench. Henderson provided energy off the bench, and against LSU in the SEC Tournament he had seven rebounds.
“They came to practice and worked every day,” Musselman said of his players. “Even [Monday] at our shoot-around, we continued to work on some fundamentals that hopefully can help all of our guys individually, wherever they are.”
Smith, Tate and Jackson turned down numerous other offers to transfer to Arkansas.
“If you’re a grad transfer, it’s a leap of faith,” Musselman said. “It’s your last college experience. As a basketball player, it’s your last piece to your resume before you move on to hopefully play at some level professionally.
“And so the faith and the trust that those three guys gave us — because we only had one year of body of work at Arkansas — I can’t say enough about. Without those guys, we’re not here. I can tell you that.
“I thought our seniors did a phenomenal job trying to build the freshmen up every single day. And they allowed our freshmen to be stars, because they’re such unselfish people.”
Tate said the freshmen sought advice from the seniors both on and off the court.
“They listened tremendously,” Tate said. “It’s just amazing to see them flourish the way they did. You look down the stretch, without those guys we’re nowhere near where we are now.”
Despite losing the seniors and Moody presumably, Tate said the Razorbacks will be strong again next season.
“The core of this team that will return will have this experience to fall back on and to push them forward,” Tate said. “And the work ethic, I think they’ll continue to increase that.
“They’re high-character guys and super competitors. So I believe they’ll push one another and the people that are brought in to have the same success.”