Eric Musselman declines to comment on Davonte Davis departure from program

Arkansas head men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman declined to discuss the status or departure of guard Davonte “Devo” Davis after a six-point loss to Kentucky on Saturday. It was announced shortly before tipoff that Davis was leaving the program.

In his postgame press conference, reporters pressed Musselman for more details. He demurred to the press release from a program spokesperson.

“Did Mike give a release?” Musselman said, jumping back in when the reporter said yes. “Whatever Mike said. Thank you.”

Musselman was asked again later if Davis might have a path back to the team. He again demurred on answering.

“I’m just going to stick with Mike’s thing, thank you Bob,” Musselman said, before responding to a follow up in a similar vein. “I’m just going to stick with Mike’s thing. I appreciate the job you’ve got and that’s what it is.”

Davis’ departure was announced shortly before tipoff

As the report reads, Davis’ absence is not explained. For now, it’s a tough loss at the moment for Eric Musselman and company.

In 19 games this season, Davis has 6.3 points per game, four rebounds per game and 2.1 assists per game. He shoots 35.5% from the floor and 23.9% from three point range.

As a member of the Class of 2020, Davis was a four-star recruit out of Jacksonville (Ark.) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 3 overall prospect in the state, the No. 10 combo guard in the class and the No. 125 overall prospect in the class.

On Thursday, On3’s Joe Tipton weighed in on Arkansas’ underwhelming season thus far.

“Arkansas was kind of a shocker,” Tipton told On3s Andy Staples. “I didn’t anticipate them to lose this many games. We talked about the transfer portal and it did wonders for Tennessee and Dalton Knecht.

“But, then, a team like Arkansas, they live and breathe off the transfer portal. And they brought in several talented guys, and it’s just not paying out for them as much so far.”

Arkansas added seven players in the transfer portal this offseason while only losing three. Three of the players the Razorbacks added were standouts at their previous schools: Tramon Mark, Khalif Battle and Keyon Menifield.

To pile on, the team returned Trevon Brazile and Davis. Brazile was preseason All-SEC First-Team member and Davis was a Second-Team member. The pair is only averaging a combined 16.2 points and 11 rebounds per game.

In contrast, most of the transfers are holding up their end of the bargain. Mark is leading the team in scoring this season and exploded for a career-high 35 points against Texas A&M. Mark also knocked down a game-winner with 1.1 seconds left on the clock. Battle and Menifield are also two of the team’s top four scorers.

On3’s Grant Grubbs and Nick Kosko contributed to this report.