NORTH LITTLE ROCK — On Dec. 8, Arkansas guard Anthony Black was asked about Jordan Walsh potentially helping the team fill the void left by an injured Trevon Brazile.
Black, the Razorbacks’ 6-7 freshman, told reporters the team needed Walsh to step up and play “a lot better than he’s been playing.”
Two days later, Arkansas faced Oklahoma at BOK Center in Tulsa, and Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman instructed the wing in pregame to play with more confidence.
Walsh has responded with his two best games to date.
Last weekend during the Razorbacks’ 88-78 victory over Oklahoma, he scored 12 points. And on Saturday, in the 10th-ranked Razorbacks’ 76-57 win over Bradley at Simmons Bank Arena, he starred as Arkansas (10-1) cruised to its sixth consecutive win.
Walsh finished with a game-high 18 points on 7 of 7 from the floor, 3 rebounds and 4 steals in 28 minutes before fouling out.
“I think his confidence is just going up the last couple of games, and it’s good,” Black said Saturday. “We need him to play how he’s been playing the last couple of games. We’ve seen it kind of in spurts throughout the year, but now he’s starting to put full games together.
“Good job, Jordan. Good job.”
More from WholeHogSports: Razorbacks beat Bradley for sixth straight win
Walsh was essential to the Razorbacks’ quick start to the game, scoring 8 of the team’s first 13 points. He put down a pair of dunks during a 12-second span following Bradley turnovers that were part of an 11-0 run and gave Arkansas a 17-7 lead with 10:54 left in the half.
Seventy seconds later, Walsh knocked down a three-pointer from the left wing that was assisted by Ricky Council. It was the start of a personal 8-0 run.
He scored 16 points in the first half and aided Arkansas in taking a 37-25 lead into the break. Walsh capped his night offensively with another transition score with 14:08 remaining.
"He's playing with great confidence, No. 1,” Musselman said. “I think No. 2, he's making threes with his feet set. He's not taking a high volume, but the quality of shot selection Jordan has had has been very, very good. In Europe, he learned going to the basket and finishing with contact and to go strong to the cup.
“I think he's really improved in that area, going with some authority to the rim.”
As impressive as Walsh’s offensive start was, he was perhaps more impactful on the other end. Bradley found little success when its offense flowed in the rangy wing’s vicinity and the Braves attempted to score on him around the rim.
Walsh had 4 points and 2 steals when he was subbed out at the 14:26 mark of the first half to a standing ovation from the crowd. Twenty seconds after checking back in, Walsh tallied another steal that led to the first of his back-to-back dunks.
His four steals are a season high. Walsh had five steals in the Razorbacks’ previous four games.
“He’s a very talented player,” Bradley coach Brian Wardle said of Walsh. “They bullied us to the rim a bunch, especially to start the game. We didn’t hold our ground, we didn’t chest them up and own our territory, own our one-on-one battles.”
Asked to assess his performance against the Braves, Walsh credited second-year Arkansas assistant coach Keith Smart. Together, the wing said, they studied film of Bradley and he entered the game with a great understanding of its personnel’s strengths and weaknesses on offense and defense.
More from WholeHogSports: Musselman, Walsh, Black discuss win over Bradley in North Little Rock
“It was all just a part of his game plan, for real,” Walsh said of Smart.
“I think the biggest difference is just trusting the work,” Walsh added. “I feel like our coaching staff and our (graduate assistants), they put us through great workouts that simulate the game.
“And me just going through those and doing those night in and night out, when something happens in the game, you’re just like, ‘Oh, hey, I was just working on this last night. I’m going to shoot this, or I’m going to jab right, spin and it’s a bucket – guaranteed.’”
According to HogStats.com, Walsh’s seven made field goals without a miss are the most by a Razorback since Daniel Gafford was 7 of 7 against Texas Tech in January 2019. Dating to the Oklahoma game on Dec. 10, Walsh has made 9 of his last 10 shots from the floor.
Against Bradley, the Razorbacks scored 2.10 points per minute when Walsh was on the floor. That number dropped to 1.42 in his 11:56 on the bench.
“I think we do have a lot of guys that can score in a variety of ways, and certainly when you have a player go 7 of 7 and runs the floor like Jordan did and attacks the rim like he did, it opens things up for other guys,” Musselman said. “Tonight was his night.”