Davenport Not Scoring as Expected, but Improved Player
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Jeremiah Davenport may be playing his final game for the Arkansas Razorbacks at SEC Tournament, but fans have seen him improve. They expected a shooter that could light up the scoreboard and that hasn't happened, but coaches have noticed other things.
"Super high energy, competitive, plays with emotion, practices with emotion," Eric Musselman said on Monday. "Good teammate. Can accept different roles. He’s got a positivity about himself. He’s great on the bench when he’s not in games. Brings energy to his teammates. So I would say those qualities. Willing to take on any defensive assignment regardless of position."
That shooting, though, was what everybody expected. Averaging just 5.3 points a game and just one 3-pointer each game was not what the transfer did at Cincinnati, but he's adapted. He still managed to be a competitor, which was what they needed and that probably says as much as anything.
"That’s why we’re playing better (is) he’s playing better. There is a more across the board," Musselman said. "He even had, for a shooter, a high quality assist number the other night, as well. He’s doing a little bit of everything, which is what you want out of those guys that are 6-5 to 6-7. You want those swing guys to be able to impact the box score in more than one way. He’s starting to do that with the rebounding, the passing. He made a great dribble-drive move the other night in Tuscaloosa. Again, you look at the history of our guys that play the 3-4 and those guys have been players that can do a lot of different things — the Au’Diese Toneys, the Stan Umudes, the Jordan Walshs. It’s been important for us for those guys to do multiple things while they’re on the floor. JD (Davenport) is slightly undersized compared to those other guys, but he is the closest thing to those other guys as far as a multi-positional guy that can kind of play three different positions for us."
To keep playing, the Hogs have to win more than Wednesday night's game against Vanderbilt. With a disappointing season, they will have to win all of them to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and you have to wonder if they would even accept a bid to the NIT or one of those other off-brand tournaments. The game Wednesday night will tip at 6 p.m. and is broadcast on the SEC Network and fuboTV.
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