Trevon Brazile ruled out ahead of Arkansas-Kentucky matchup

Trevon Brazile has been ruled out of the Arkansas–Kentucky matchup on Saturday night, according to Mason Choate of Rivals.com. Hogs head coach Eric Musselman provided some insight into Brazile’s absence on the radio: “He hadn’t been able to practice since our last game. It’s next man up…Certainly somebody has got to step up in TB’s absence.”

Brazile has been dealing with knee soreness and sat out the second half of the Ole Miss loss. He averages a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game while adding 8.9 points per contest, meaning he provides important production on the glass.

As of Friday, Musselman said Brazile was still dealing with some pain.

Brazile began his college basketball career at Mizzou unranked from the Class of 2021, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average. He averaged 6.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 21.5 minutes per game as a freshman in 2021-22. The Missouri native missed the first eight games of the 2021-2022 season with an undisclosed medical condition. He played in 24 games with the Tigers his freshman year, starting 22 of those.

In high school, Brazile won the Missouri Class 6 state championship at Kickapoo. As a senior, he averaged 13.2 points and 7.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 73% from the field.

“With TB, he would like to play, for sure. But he’s got some soreness,” Musselman said on Friday. “There’s a couple different thought processes: Does he rest? Does he see how it feels before tip? As of this moment, I would say at best, a game-time decision.”

The Razorbacks also got another bit of bad news on Saturday night, after they learned that Davonte Davis has stepped away from the basketball program.

“BREAKING: An Arkansas basketball spokesperson said Davonte Davis has stepped away from the program,” Jackson Fuller wrote on Twitter. “No other context/update provided.”

As the report reads, Davis’ absence is not explained. For now, it’s a tough loss at the moment for Eric Musselman and company.

As a member of the Class of 2020, Davis was a four-star recruit out of Jacksonville (Ark.) High, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He was the No. 3 overall prospect in the state, the No. 10 combo guard in the class and the No. 125 overall prospect in the class.

On3’s Nick Kosko and Nick Schultz also contributed to this article.