FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas wing Au’Diese Toney’s status for this week’s SEC Tournament remains unclear.
Toney, a 6-6 transfer from Pittsburgh, did not play in the Razorbacks’ regular-season finale at Tennessee last Saturday after injuring his right ankle in the team’s 77-76 victory over LSU on March 2. He wore a walking boot on the sideline while in Knoxville, Tenn.
Toney has continued to do so as Arkansas prepares for its quarterfinal game in Tampa, Fla., on Friday afternoon.
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said Tuesday that Toney has “not practiced at all” this week.
“He’s still in a boot. He’s still a ways off. He will travel with us,” Musselman said. “He’s been nothing but in a boot. (The training staff was) able to get him to do some cardio (on Monday) on the bike. Pool work, running-wise, that’s not part of the equation, but he was on a bike.
“If and when he’s able to play, at that point we want him to still be in the right physical condition.”
Toney, a 27-game starter, finished the regular season fourth on the team in scoring at 10.4 points per game on 52.0% from the floor. He was also second in rebounding at 5.3 per game.
In SEC games, he scored 9.4 points, grabbed 4.5 rebounds per outing and shot 81.2% at the free throw line on 69 attempts. Toney finished with 10-plus points in 8 league games, including a season-high 20 against Vanderbilt; 18 in the second meeting with LSU; and 14 and 12 against Auburn and Florida, respectively.
Without Toney at Tennessee, Musselman elected to start sophomore guard Davonte Davis. Following the game, Musselman said it was unlikely he would go that route again in the event Toney is unable to play in another game or is limited.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I do know I’m not telling you guys,” Musselman joked to reporters Tuesday. “(In practice), we do have three units that we’ve been working with. We’ve taken seven guys at one end and we’re putting different rotations with them.
“Those guys at some point, if Au’Diese can’t play, they’ve all got to know different positions. Quite frankly, (on Monday) we had some guys playing some positions that they have not played in the past, so we might have a team that’s a little bit smaller than what we’ve played, and we might have a team that’s a lot bigger than even with Au’Diese in there as well that we’ll tinker with.”
Miami transfer Chris Lykes and Arkansas-Little Rock transfer Kamani Johnson are the likely potential fill-ins for Toney, who leads the Razorbacks with 71 offensive rebounds.
Lykes is averaging 8.1 points primarily off the bench, and Johnson has contributed 2.7 points and 3.0 rebounds in 22 games. Lykes started two games in the regular season and Johnson one.
In his starts, Lykes, a 5-7 guard, averaged 15.5 points on 41.2% shooting, 1.5 assists and 1 steal. Johnson played only 9 minutes in his lone start against Missouri on Jan. 12, scoring 4 points and grabbing 4 rebounds before exiting the game with an ankle injury.
Against the Vols, Lykes and Johnson played essential roles in Arkansas battling back from a 24-point deficit.
Lykes finished the game with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting, 3 assists and 3 steals. The Razorbacks outscored Tennessee 54-44 in his 25:21 in the lineup.
It was his third SEC game in double figures, and his 3 three-pointers were his most since the loss to Hofstra on Dec. 18. Lykes was one steal shy of matching a season high set against Georgia.
Johnson added 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block in 24 minutes.
“We needed those guys to play good without Au’Diese,” Musselman said. “I think both of their confidence is good, their body language (Monday) was phenomenal in practice and they’re re-energized, like any player is when he plays well.
“Kamani has done a good job with the minutes he’s been given throughout the course of the year. Chris has had some peaks and valleys, and certainly I thought his Tennessee game was his best all-around game — offensively, defensively.
“We need Chris to play with great confidence, because he is a really dynamic player.”