Devo's Here to Lead, Hogs Ready to Follow

Davis sets tone, standard for everyone to follow right away

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Oct 5, 2023 11:11 AM EDT

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – There are a nine new players on the Razorback basketball team this year, but it took exactly one Red-White game for them all to realize Davonte Davis is the Hogs' leader and he sets the standard.

Not only did they notice how hard he plays on defense, but they were in awe at how in the team's first action, Davis not only out-hustled everyone on both ends of the floor, but he was the only one who still had juice to keep going once the game finally ended. Davis even provided his first lesson of the year by scoring 11 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter to blow the game open while everyone else struggled to suck down air.

"If you're not tired the way we play, I don't know," Louisville graduate transfer El Ellis said. "There's only one player that was not tired tonight and that was Devo and coach says he runs on batteries. That boy was not tired at all."

Cincinnati transfer Jeremiah Davenport, who had just surprised everyone by getting into a 3-point shootout with Joseph Pinion, could only shake his head in awe in agreement. "Yeah, yeah, he just, Devo," he said off to the side as Ellis answered. It almost came off as someone issuing a couple of heartfelt "amens" in the middle of a good sermon.

This will be one of the most experienced teams in all of college basketball. Still, there's an adjustment to the standard demonstrated by Davis that Ellis noted pushes the team to a level that has to be met even by those who have played under Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman before.

"Still got to get used to playing on both sides of the ball," Ellis said. "Especially us newcomers, I know too, we were tired. Joseph [Pinion] was even tired and he's been for a year. It's different."

Just seconds earlier, Davenport made it clear how difficult it is to adjust to the physical expectations of being a Razorback. He was asked how he felt after the game and drew a chuckle from a crowd of media that already knows the expectation of playing for Musselman. "I'm tired," he answered, but then went on to address how that's going to change.

"If you wasn't tired out there, I don't know what you were doing, but definitely, definitely being the first scrimmage, you definitely going to be tired," Davenport said. "I seen that down the line. As things get going, the season starts approaching, practice starts amping up a little bit, we start getting more in shape The first couple of games, you might see a couple of players not there yet, but games down the line, like in the NBA, Lebron said it takes him about 10 games to get in shape. Down the line, eventually, we will all get in shape for sure."

As for Ellis, who led everyone with six assists as the Red team's designated point guard, having Davis on the floor also both pushed him and provided a certain level of comfort.

"He's just keeps me on my heels because I know if he's defending like that, I've got to," Ellis said. "When I need to break on the ball, I know that he's going to be there for me to pick the ball up. On offense if I need him to run the point, he can run the point as well. I feel like that's a good tandem to have in the backcourt and I just love playing with him."

The combination of Ellis and Davis provides a duo Musselman said he hopes can provide an unstoppable combination when it comes time to close games. The only issue is whether the pair can build on-court chemistry fast enough to play off each other smoothly by the time big games start rolling around in late November.

"Both guys have the ability to score," Musselman said. "Both those guys can go get their shot virtually whenever they want. How is the chemistry? Is the ball gonna move? Is the ball gonna stick too much? Is the ball gonna be shared? All those things are certainly areas of concern if you have two guys who can, off the bounce, go get something, but the great thing is there's a lot of end the shot clock stuff that happens in college basketball, and when you don't have people who can go get their own or get a teammate a shot, which I thought El did a great job tonight, and Devo, of getting by their defender, drawing an extra one, and making an extra pass. If those guys do that, I think we can be pretty effective in late clock situations."

Musselman said he is also hopeful Davis can inspire Houston transfer Tramon Mark to raise his defensive game even further. The goal in mind is to have Mark provide relief for Davis from the non-stop pressure of always being the one relied upon to shut down the opposing team's strongest offensive weapon.

"They both have high will to win, so I think both those guys together, obviously Devo has been a guy who for three years now we have told to go guard the best player on the other team, and now we hope that T-Mark can do the same," Musselman said. "Maybe those guys can alternate between guys and we can give the opponent a different look. T-Mark is a little bit different defender than Devo, though they're both excellent in their own ways, T-Mark still has to jump to the all when his man passes. That's an area he needs to improve on. He still needs to close out with high hand when catches the ball. Those are just some little DNA things that are really important to us. He's still adjusting to do those things, but I think just, 'Hey go guard that guy,' I mean he's probably as good as anybody."

The next opportunity for fans to see how the team responds to trying to catch Davis from a conditioning and defensive effort standpoint will be Friday, Oct. 20 in Bud Walton, a facility Musselman said afterward the new players haven't shot in yet. There the Razorbacks will face UT-Tyler in the first exhibition game of the season at 6:30 p.m. Unless something changes, there is no plan to show the game on any television outlets.