Davonte Davis shares why he decided to call a timeout

A surprisingly pivotal moment in Arkansas‘ 60-40 win against LSU happened when Davonte Davis shocked Eric Musselman by calling one of the Razorbacks’ timeouts.

To illustrate, the Tigers were on a run, but Musselman was content to let his team figure it out. Instead, Davis took the reins, seeing the writing on the wall. Afterwards, he explained what was going through his mind.

“I called it. Had a media coming up. I still called it,” stated Davis. “I seen we was only up like nine or ten. I didn’t want to come down — I think they was trying to press too. Trying to get an even longer run. I was like, nope. Not doing it. Let’s call this timeout. Get ourselves together. Then we come back out, try to get a bucket, then the next media coming up. I think we did that. We got a stop at the other end, then the media.

“I think we did a good job. I think I executed on that pretty well. Even though I wasn’t playing.”

Alas, it all worked out in the end for Davis, who also touched on Musselman’s reaction to the surprising timeout.

“He was lost at first,” revealed Davis. “I was like, I called it. … He didn’t get mad.”

Heck, Musselman can’t complain if it’s going to help. Perhaps Davis earned some more rope with his coach moving forward following the well-timed timeout.

Moreover, win marked the second straight for Arkansas, improving its SEC record to 3-5 after a 1-5 start to league play. Still, the Razorbacks still have a long way to go as they are currently ninth in the conference standings. 

Arkansas’ next game is against a nonconference opponent, as it faces No. 17 Baylor on Saturday in Waco. We’ll see who’s calling the timeouts in the contest — Davonte Davis or Eric Musselman.

Eric Musselman provides injury update on Makhel Mitchell

After leaving Saturday’s win against Ole Miss with a foot injury late, Arkansas big man Makhel Mitchell did not play Tuesday in a 60-40 win against LSU. Mitchell was still dressed out, but never left the bench as the Razorbacks cruised to victory. 

Asked to provide an update postgame, coach Eric Musselman described Mitchell as “day-to-day,” opening up the door for him to return in any of the next few games.

“He’s day-to-day,” Musselman said. “Was out for sure tonight. The suiting up, I just felt like we had enough dudes in street clothes. Can you just suit up so when I look down there I think I have another body? He was like, ‘Yeah. Sure, coach.’ Because he did not have his shoe tied, I promise you that.”

After seeing limited time off the bench over the first half of the season, Mitchell started the two games prior to Saturday. Although he returned to a bench role against the Rebels, Mitchell still made an impact defensively in 21 minutes to finish with four points, five rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

So far this season, Mitchell is averaging 3.5 points, 2.2 rebounds and one block across just 8.9 minutes per game. However, those numbers have increased to 5.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes per game over his past three contests.

Even with Makhel Mitchell out due to injury, the Razorbacks defense was still stout Tuesday against the Tigers. LSU shot just 14-of-54 (25.9%), and made only three field goals in the first half as Arkansas ended on a 23-2 run to take a 38-14 advantage into halftime. The Razorbacks also forced 15 turnovers.

On3’s Chandler Vessels contributed to this article.