Eric Musselman raves about improved 3-point shooting from Davonte Davis

Arkansas guard Davonte Davis started the year off in a massive slump from beyond the arc. He’s never been a strong outside shooter, but in year three, an improvement from deep was expected. Instead, he made just seven of his first 39 three-point tries — good for just under 18%. An abysmal number. However, Devo has caught fire in the last month, beyond the arc and as a scorer in general.

He’s currently on a run of nine straight games scoring 15 points or more. A huge part of that huge uptick in production is powered by a scalding shooting streak from deep, where he’s converting 44.7% of his long balls since the start of his nine-game heater. Simply put: Arkansas needed to save its season in mid-January and Davis has been their messiah. Okay, that’s probably a melodramatic statement, but Davis is the engine of the Hogs’ turnaround.

At a recent press conference, Razorback head coach Eric Musselman raved about Davonte Davis and his improved offense, especially in shooting the ball beyond the arc.

“His three-point shooting is really what has become extremely valuable to us,” said Muss. “He’s doing a great job of not shooting the threes off the bounce for the most part. Really happy with the confidence level that he has shown. He’s the only guy that made a three for us (against South Carolina).”

Coach Musselman also points out that the boom in raw scoring average could be attributed to his deadlier three-point numbers, which are forcing defenders to cover him more closely on the perimeter. In turn, they can’t sag off him and clog the lane or go under ball screens when he’s the ball-handler, which opens up entire new lanes of offense Arkansas never had.

“When people crowd him because he’s got really good ability to get downhill, I think that’s going to open up some dribble-drive angles for him, as well,” finished Musselman.

Injured freshman five-star and top-five recruit Nick Smith Jr. was supposed to be that guy for Arkansas. Instead, with Smith injured for much of the year, the veteran Davis stepped up and provided what was missing. Hats off to the junior from Jacksonville, AR.