Nick Smith Jr. out indefinitely due to right knee management, per school

There is some unfortunate news coming out of Lafayette, AR, involving one of the key players on the Arkansas Razorbacks men’s basketball team. According to a team official, star freshman guard Nick Smith Jr. will be out indefinitely.

Smith, a Jacksonville, AR, native, has officially been ruled out indefinitely with the reason listed as ‘right knee management.’ On the season, the freshman guard has played in just five of the Razorbacks’ 11 games as he dealt with the right knee injury. Unfortunately, it appears as if that injury is more significant than once viewed and will require Smith to sit out some time to heal.

Arkansas has been able to hold their own despite missing one of their top scorers on the team. Smith, at 12.8 points per game, it’s tied with fellow freshman Anthony Black as the Razorbacks’ second-leading scorer; but has done it with less playing time. Through five games, Smith has averaged 12.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 38.9% shooting from the field, on an average of 23.4 minutes per contest.

Smith’s injury will undoubtedly be a huge blow to the country’s tenth-ranked team. Still, Arkansas has a plethora of offensive threats that can help them manage as their young star guard recovers from his knee issues.

Eric Musselman explains consistency in Arkansas’ starting lineup

Consistency has been the name of the game for Arkansas this season. Four Razorbacks have started at least 10 of the 11 games this year, and head coach Eric Musselman said that consistency has been essential to his team’s 10-1 start to the year.

Arkansas’ most notable loss from the starting five is Trevon Brazile, who’s out for the year with a torn ACL. But the other Razorbacks starters have held strong in their roles, and that stability is important as the season goes on.

However, he noted those roles could change, and he pointed to some examples he’s seen already.

“With consistency, roles can play out,” Musselman said. “If you look at our record, we lost by three points in the middle of a three games in three nights [stretch]. A lot of national publications have called that the best college game of the year, our loss against Creighton. We scored at high level, we didn’t defend like I thought we could. When you play with great consistency, your lineup’s going to stay consistent. Again, we lost that game and Creighton’s been without their big center. When he plays, they’re a different team. We lost to a really good team that was highly ranked at the time, and we didn’t feel the need to panic and change things up. But we have no idea how the season plays out.