Eric Musselman explains how Arkansas benefitted from bringing Jordan Walsh off the bench

Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman decided to change up his lineup a bit in the Razorbacks’ first NCAA Tournament game — which they won against Illinois, controlling the game virutally from first tip to final horn. They did so in part due to a monster performance from freshman Jordan Walsh, who came off the bench on Thursday despite starting most of the team’s games this season. Instead, Ricky Council IV, the Hogs’ leading scorer, was inserted in the starting lineup as an attempt to get him going early.

When Walsh came in, though, he brought and extra spark with him. According to Eric Musselman, the lanky rookie “did everything” in the win. “He got loose balls, he altered shots, he ran the floor hard both offensively and defensively, gave great support defense to his teammates,” said Musselman.

Walsh is rarely one to light up the scoreboard to rack up eye-popping stats, but he can be a stat sheet stuffer. Somebody who does a little bit of everything: from grabbing offensive rebounds to playing great defense or making the extra pass. The stat where his impact does show up is the plus/minus, and Walsh scored extraordinarily in that department vs. the Illini at +22.

“I thought he put great heat on the ball, great pressure on the ball. He rushed the quarterback. His plus/minus tonight was by far our highest while he was on the floor. You know, sometimes you wonder — he’s been a starter for most of the year. We brought him off the bench tonight. I thought he was phenomenal. You know, we wanted Ricky to start tonight and I thought it helped him because we needed him attacking the offense early in the game.”

The switch definitely worked, because Arkansas got off to a quick start and really never looked back en route to a third straight season with an NCAA Tournament victory. Now, the question remains: will this year’s Razorback group reach the Elite Eight as the last two did? All depends on today’s bout with Kansas.

The Hogs and Jayhawks are set to do battle at 5:15 p.m. ET (4:15 p.m. CT) on CBS later this afternoon in Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. Kansas opened as a favorite of four points over Arkansas even though head coach Bill Self will not be on the bench following a recent health issue.

A trip to the second weekend on the line in just a few hours.