Eric Musselman updates latest on Arkansas' injuries

Arkansas is fresh off a win over Texas A&M, and coach Eric Musselman believes his team has played five of its best halves of basketball in the last three games. That despite a handful of injured players on the bench.

Forward Trevon Brazile hasn’t played since Jan. 24 due to knee soreness, and Musselman provided an update on his status on Thursday.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’ll play this season as long as there’s no setbacks,” Eric Musselman said. “He’s been gradually working his way back into the fold. Hopefully he’ll be able to go through some practice today. He has gone through some light stuff of late.”

Meanwhile, forward Jalen Graham has missed the last two games.

“And then Jalen Graham will not practice today,” Eric Musselman said. “Possibly will practice Friday. Both guys I would say, because we didn’t practice yesterday and we haven’t practiced yet, I would say both guys nearing a return. Whether that’s Saturday or Tuesday or the following Saturday, sometime within the next three games we would expect to have both of them back.”

Both would be considerable additions to the Arkansas lineup.

Brazile is averaging 8.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. He’s an experienced veteran who has played plenty of basketball. Graham is averaging 7.4 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game.

Their return would bolster the frontcourt demonstrably.

Finally, guard Keyon Menifield has been dealing with a nagging injury.

“Yeah, Keyon’s day to day,” Eric Musselman said. “He’ll go through whatever he can in practice.”

One thing that has actually worked somewhat in Arkansas’ favor due to the injuries is a shorter bench rotation. The Razorbacks seem to be benefiting from some of the players who weren’t getting as many minutes earlier in the year beginning to get more comfortable.

How Arkansas manages things as players return will be interesting to see.

“You’ve got to wait to see who’s available and who’s not available,” Eric Musselman said. “The way that we’ve played the last two games, I mean those guys are going to deserve to continue to stay in somewhat of a role. But obviously if injured guys come back you want to get them back in the fold as well.

“But it has been guys kind of know when they’re coming in and out of games. It’s been a little bit easier probably from a coaching standpoint as well as a player perspective with the shorter rotation, which is why we’ve done it that way for nine years. Wasn’t done earlier because lack of consistency. That’s been the one thing with our team that we’re continually trying to be as consistent as we possibly can.”