Report: Arkansas' Nick Smith Jr. to return from injury against Mississippi State

Arkansas is getting one of its stars back for this weekend’s contest against Mississippi State, with Draft Express’ Jonathan Givony reporting things are set for Nick Smith Jr. to return to action.

Smith has not played since suffering a knee injury on Dec. 17, but he returned to practice for the Razorbacks this week.

On the season Smith is averaging 12.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, but he has appeared in only five games for the Razorbacks so far, limited by injury most of the year.

As Givony notes, ESPN has Smith pegged as the No. 6 overall prospect in the 2023 NBA Draft class.

A freshman, Smith checks in at 6 foot 5, 185 pounds. He was rated as a five-star prospect and the No. 3 overall player in the nation in the 2022 recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus Recruiting rankings. He checked in as the top shooting guard and the top overall player in the state of Arkansas.

With Nick Smith Jr. ready to return, Arkansas will tip off against Mississippi State at 6 p.m. ET with a broadcast on ESPNU.

Arkansas rounding into form at right time

Rupp Arena is not an easy place to win, but Arkansas conquered it convincingly on Tuesday night with an 88-73 win over Kentucky. The back-to-back road wins for the Razorbacks further prove Eric Musselman‘s squad is beginning to fix things that cost it games on the road earlier in the season.

Arkansas has battled through injuries and lineups in flux as a result for most of the year.

“Yeah I mean we’ve talked about it since the summer began, that with all the new faces and then obviously with two major pieces not having played in a long time that we knew we were going to continue to evolve,” Musselman said. “We’re not the same team that we were in Hawaii. We’re not the same team that we were when we played at Oklahoma, just based on personnel and availability of players.”

Arkansas has now won five of its last six games after a stretch of four losses in a row.

Injuries have been a sore spot for Arkansas all year long, with Nick Smith Jr. to return after a long hiatus and Trevon Brazile suffering a season-ending injury.

“There’s not many teams in the country that could play with these type of injuries that we’ve dealt with and the quality of the players that have not been able to participate with us and find a way,” Musselman said. “It’s a resilient group. Again, I’m really proud of them. The huddles were great tonight. There was great communication amongst all five guys that were sitting in the chair. There was good communication by our bench, trying to help the guys that were on the floor.

“A really great win, and a team that had struggled, losing three games by… I mean this team’s a basket or two away from really having a great record.”