Eric Musselman stresses need for Nick Smith's offensive success

Heading into the NCAA Tournament, Arkansas guard Nick Smith Jr. was on a heater. The former five-star freshman was injured most of the season but finally got healthy for the back half of SEC play, where, from Feb. 21 through the end of the conference tournament, Smith averaged more than 18 points per game and was the Razorbacks’ leading scorer over that stretch.

Smith was finally living up to his pedigree out of high school as one of the best pure scorers in the 2022 recruiting class. However, Smith has really struggled to start the NCAA Tournament. In the Hogs’ first round win over Illinois, Smith played 28 minutes but made two of his 10 shot attempts, scoring just six points — his lowest total in a month. Then, in the second round comeback victory over Kansas, Smith was hardly a factor as he missed all four of his shots in only 16 minutes of action. Instead it was Davonte Davis, the veteran, who carried the offensive load with 25 points before he fouled out with a couple minutes to play.

So, Nick Smith has just six total points on 2-14 shooting so far in the NCAA Tournament. On one hand, Eric Musselman has to be counting his lucky stars that Arkansas was able to muster enough offense to win two tourney games with such poor outings from Smith. But also, Arkansas is going to need better performances out of Smith this weekend if they want to break through and make a Final Four.

After the win over Kansas, Coach Musselman discussed Nick Smith’s shortcomings thus far in the postseason and explained how difficult it is for freshmen to perform in such high pressure situations.

“Nick’s one of the most talented players in the country. And he’s had some big games for us. He’s been in a tough situation, in and out of the lineup with injuries. It’s not easy for any player to do, let alone when a team’s on a tournament run. But, yeah, we’d certainly love Nick to have a big game. But like I said, he’s been in and out of the lineup. It’s hard to do for any player, let alone someone that’s in their freshman year.”

Arkansas impressively handled two good power five clubs in the first weekend and without a boost from Nick Smith. If the Hogs are able to get him going finally they absolutely can knock off No. 4 seed UCONN, who’s been one of the hottest teams in the country over the last month or so. Two highly athletic ball clubs that love to get up and down the court will go at it this evening.