Bottom Line Is Even Musselman Not Sure Who'll be Playing

Tramon Mark, Trevon Brazile game-time decision for this afternoon's Kentucky game

Author:
Andy Hodges
Updated:
Jan 27, 2024 2:48 PM EST
Original:
Jan 27, 2024

In this story:

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Arkansas coach Eric Musselman sounded like a lot of fans are feeling these days. Apparently even the Razorbacks' coach doesn't even know who's playing today against Kentucky. It sorta sums up the whole season.

Nobody knows enough to even make an educated guess. It appears we have come to that and in the past four years, we've seen Musselman start to find his footing about this point of the season for a big finish. There likely won't be a lot to think about when the postseason rolls around.

He doesn't even know if Tramon Mark or Trevon Brazile will be able to play. Mark has been dealing with migraine headaches, according to Musselman, and Brazile has been having knee issues and didn't play in the second half against Ole Miss Wednesday night.

"At best, a game-time decision," Musselman said Friday in a Zoom press conference. "Tramon should be getting better each day with the migraine. That's usually the history of how migraines go, but that is also very, very unpredictable. With TB, he would like to play for sure, but he's got some soreness, and there are a couple of different thought processes. Does he rest? Does he see how it feels before tip?"

They'll see how Mark feels, but without the practice time this week it's unclear how effective he can be. Brazile will probably be on the floor in warm-ups and see how it's feeling from there.

As for Davonte Davis, the senior leader before the season, he has been all over the place. There hasn't been a lot of consistency, picking up technical fouls and getting thrown out of the Texas A&M game for kicking a guy in the family jewels. That was apparently by accident, but he was ejected on the flagrant charge. It's been that kind of season.

"Leadership starts with every returning player," Musselman said, reducing it to a small group. "Leadership in the locker room, leadership on the floor. We need all of our main rotation guys to play well. I mean, when you look at our stats individually and as a team, they've got to improve. In a lot of areas on both sides of the basketball."

In other words, Musselman doesn't know a whole lot more than fans do right now. The Razorbacks are 10-9 on the season and the Wildcats come in at 14-4 and ranked No. 6 in the polls. They are playing for a high NCAA Tournament position. The Razorbacks just begging for a win. This is the type game where surprises have happened before.

ESPN GameDay is in town and they'll be on the air from Bud Walton Arena at 11 a.m. and the storyline will be the collapse this season. Kentucky is as good as any team the Hogs have seen this year. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. on ESPN and fuboTV.