Who's Healthy Will Determine Starters Against Mercer
Eric Musselman's biggest problem in preseason practices has been figuring out who's available and who isn't.
That took up a lot during a half-hour long press conference Thursday afternoon.
"If you’re not available over the last two weeks, it’s semi-hard to throw a guy out there," Musselman said.
He's trying to figure out who will be available and who won't when the Razorbacks tip off the regular season Tuesday night at Bud Walton Arena against Mercer.
Don't spend too much time worrying about who will be on the floor when the game starts.
"I don’t look too much into the starting lineup," Musselman said. "The two exhibition games — last year a lot — based on how the flow of the game, you want to make adjustments and try to get the right guys out on the floor once the game has started and you can see the matchups."
One of those that should be back is Kamani Johnson, who has been out for a couple of weeks with a cast on his wrist.
"He's been practicing the last two days with something on his wrist which is not a cast," said Musselman. "So, tape or whatever you want to call it, a splint. But he is full go. We're not holding him out. He's in pretty good shape. He's worked pretty hard."
Trey Wade, who played against North Texas in Saturday's final exhibition, was clearly winded quick and didn't play for extended periods.
"He had a knee, so he wasn't able to do much cardiovascular whereas Kamani was able to run on the side and continue to work with (trainer) Dave Rich," Musselman said. "He's in pretty good shape. Not game shape, but further ahead wind-wise probably than Trey Wade."
Now Musselman has to figure out who will be available at full speed for the opener and how it all comes together.
"You can only gain so much truly off film," he said. "You can understand X’s and O’s off of the film, but until you actually are live and see how quick a guy is or how tall he actually is, that’s when you can start to determine matchups that are advantageous for you."
Tip off for the game with Mercer is 7 p.m. and will be streamed on the SEC Network Plus.
