Eric Musselman believes Nick Smith changes Arkansas offense with shooting

Arkansas freshman Nick Smith has been working his way back into the lineup the last few games after returning from a knee injury that only allowed him to play in five regular season games. And Smith officially had his coming out party on Tuesday against Georgia, looking the healthiest he has since his injury with a career-high 26 points versus the Bulldogs. Razorbacks head coach Eric Musselman spoke on Smith’s return and what it means to the team.

“I thought Nick was phenomenal, not just offensively. Obviously the nine of 14 and the five of eight from three and his 26 points, but I thought h did a really good job defensively as well,” Musselman said. “For our team I mean that’s the most passes of any team I’ve ever had, without going back through the film we had it recorded as 266 passes. Which I mean I don’t know if we’ve had a team over 250.”

Smith made his first return to action on February 11, coming off of the bench in two contests and making just two field goals in both games combined. His first start coming off of his injury was against Florida where he scored 10 points, but the performance he followed it with in his second start versus Georgia was superb. Smith shot over 60% from the field and behind the arc, not only making his own buckets, but setting up others through his shot making.

“Bench points were phenomenal for us, I thought basically everybody that checked in the game tonight really contributed. But Nick obviously changes who we are with his perimeter shooting. Tonight his three balls also opened up other looks for other guys from three-point range as well, so really good game on both sides of the floor tonight for us,” Musselman said.

In his first three games back from injury, Smith made just one of his eight three-point attempts. But against the Bulldogs buried five three-pointers on eight attempts, which didn’t come as a surprise for Musselman.

“Yeah I mean we see him every day and from a shooting standpoint he’s been coming to Bud Walton on his own at night and stuff and I think that’s how you get your rhythm back. You can’t just rely on practice time because we can’t just practice for Nick when we got guys like AB (Anthony Black) and Ricky (Council) and those guys that have been practicing and grinding,” Musselman explained. “And so it was really important for Nick to take it upon himself to get the extra reps which he has been doing for sure.”

After back-to-back losses, the Razorbacks now have back-to-back wins with Smith back in the starting lineup. There’s no question that he adds another scoring element to the offense, especially when fully healthy. And it will be interesting to see how Smith and Arkansas hold up in their next two matchups, as they take on two of the SEC’s top teams, No. 2 Alabama followed by No. 11 Tennessee, both on the road.