Eric Musselman explains decision to start Makhel Mitchell

In his 12th game at Arkansas, Makhel Mitchell earned his first start Wednesday night against Alabama. He played 22 minutes in the loss to the Crimson Tide, and Eric Musselman explained the decision to give him the start afterward.

Mitchell scored five points — including a monster poster dunk early in the first half — and grabbed four rebounds as the Razorbacks fell 84-69 at Bud Walton Arena. As far as whether or not he’ll stay in the lineup, Musselman said he wasn’t sure. He cited the matchup against Alabama’s big lineup as the reason for putting Mitchell in the starting five.

“I thought it worked out well,” Musselman said. “They have a really big front line, so that was a little bit of the reason. What we’ll do at Vanderbilt, I have no idea right now. There’s a lot of stuff that I’m still trying to solve and search. If there’s something there to try and figure out, we’re trying.”

Mitchell has been largely a role player for Arkansas this season after transferring from Rhode Island. Through 12 games, he’s averaging 3.2 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in 8.3 minutes per contest. He arrived in Fayetteville alongside his brother, Makhi, who’s been a consistent starter for the Razorbacks. Makhi Mitchell averages 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game while shooting 65% from the field.

Eric Musselman explains why this year is an uphill battle for Arkansas

After Wednesday night’s 84-69 loss to No. 4 Alabama, No. 15 Arkansas has now lost three of its last four games as SEC play gets underway. Even considering the circumstances, though, Eric Musselman says it’s still on the players to find a way to overcome what’s going on around them.

Musselman shared those thoughts following the loss to the Crimson Tide last night. He said that losing Nick Smith Jr. and Trevon Brazile to injuries has hurt, but it’s not an excuse for them to not be winning games.

“I want to be perfectly clear. There’s no excuse. Again, I’ve been around the game way too long and injuries are part of the game. But we’re missing two guys that we had projected to play right around 40 minutes for us,” Musselman said. “We’ve got to do (something) and keep searching to try and figure it out.”